Chuck vs The Fatal Flash?
by chuckfanDOC
Summary: Immediately following Chuck vs The Wild Side: Chuck and Sarah admitted their feelings, but all is not good in the world. Sarah is abducted and the next flash may cost Chuck his life.
1. Chapter 1

Chuck vs The Fatal Flash

Chuck vs The Fatal Flash?

This takes place directly following the events of Chuck vs. The Wild Side.

**Chapter 1**

Sarah had briefly fallen asleep in a chair at Chuck's side. She had found her self being unable to sleep through the night, waking every hour or so. She was concerned for him even though the doctors had assured her that they were confident he would come through the procedure well. She looked at Chuck while he was sleeping and smiled as she remembered their conversation with the doctors last night. They had explained that an aneurysm was like a ticking time bomb and they were just going to cut the fuse by placing a supporting coil into the blood vessel. Chuck had looked at her with a very nervous half smile and said, "nothing new then." Of course the doctors had no idea what he was talking about, but they shared the private joke with a chuckle. She knew that he would be okay. Chuck always had a way of making it through, even when the odds were not in his favor. Her worry was just compounded by the fact that she was also regretting not being more forth-coming with Chuck about Washington and their mission. She knew that he was not going to be happy with her or Casey when he found out about their plan to help Bryce, but there was no chance she was going to include him in this. Chuck would want to do anything he could to help and that includes Flash on any info they had available. He was after all the very same man that went running into a building known to contain a bomb to save a bunch of people he didn't even know on the night of their "first date." This would be worse. His former best friend was being held captive, probably being tortured, and Casey was going to be putting himself in danger to capture the fulcrum agents responsible. Chuck would never be able to sit back and do nothing if he knew what was going on. At least with Chuck being in the hospital and having his procedure, she wouldn't have to worry about him…well, staying in the car. She had sat with her thoughts for quite some time before exhaustion started to overcome her nerves. She decided to climb into the bed next to Chuck and quickly fell into a much more restful sleep lying next to him.

Casey had been wakened by his phone at approximately 4:30 am. He was uncomfortable with the level of concern that he initially felt fearing that it was the hospital in regards to Chuck, _Get a hold of yourself Casey_. He was relieved when he saw the call was from the General. His relief was very short lived. "And we are certain that her cover has been compromised? We could still go with the original plan…Yes General I understand. Leak the information. We will be ready to go within the hour."

Sarah was finally able to sleep. It felt like it had been weeks since she last slept comfortably, which is the reason she was less than pleased when she felt a hand on her shoulder waking her.

"Walker, wake up. We need to go, now." Casey was whispering as he lightly shook Sarah awake.

"What are you talking about? It is only a little after 5 o'clock. The information isn't going to be leaked until later this afternoon. We have plenty of time." Sarah was still groggy as she was trying to wake.

"There has been a change of plans." The seriousness in Casey's voice pushed any remaining drowsiness out of Sarah's head.

"What do you mean there is a change in plans." As Sarah said this she sat up fully causing Chuck to stir and wake.

"What's wrong? Where are you going?" Chuck clung to Sarah's hand as he spoke.

"Go back to sleep Chuck everything is alright." Sarah softened her expression and turned to Chuck. "Washington just needs me to do a something for them this morning, nothing big. I will only be gone a short while." She smiled at Chuck who did not seem completely convinced.

"Are you sure that you can't stay until I go under?" He was nervous about the procedure and Sarah wished that she could be there to comfort him.

"I wish I could, but I would rather go now and be the first person you see when you wake up." This seemed to comfort Chuck, as he had let go of her hand. Sarah bent down and kissed him lightly. "You go back to sleep and I will see you soon." She and Casey walked out of the room. Chuck sat awake unable to go back to sleep.

About two hours later Ellie and Devon came walking into Chuck's room. His procedure was set to begin at 7:30 that morning. "Hey little brother I didn't expect to find you awake. Where is Sarah?"

"Just left, she had something she had to go do this morning. It seemed kind of important, for her family. She should be back a little later." Chuck was rambling a bit, but Ellie assumed it was just his nerves.

"Don't worry Chuckster. You are going to be awesome today, bro." Despite the typical word choice, Devon was sincere as he jumped into the conversation. He really cared about Chuck. Though he didn't have as much in common with Chuck as he did with his own brothers; he was actually closer to Chuck in many ways. Chuck was originally just his girl's nerdy little brother, but it didn't take long for Devon to adopt Chuck as his own nerdy little brother. That was the reason he was planning on making Chuck his best man. Chuck looked at Devon knowing that he meant the best, "Thanks."

Sarah waited until she was in the car with Casey before continuing their conversation. "How has the plan changed?"

"Well, it turns out we weren't able to wait to feed fulcrum my name. Somehow they already got yours." The original plan had been to leak Casey's name to the new fulcrum recruits in Washington. They would surely come after him, as the leaked information was going to include some hints that he may be associated with the intersect. It was risky, but this would give them an opportunity to set a trap for his abductors. They could then interrogate the fulcrum agents to find out where they were keeping Bryce. Casey didn't care so much about Bryce, but he was excited about the opportunity to bring down a large chunk of fulcrum's latest endeavor. The information on Casey was not scheduled to be released until later in the day, but somehow Fulcrum had learned the name and location of one Sarah Walker.

Sarah sat and listened to Casey as he drove. Upon finding out that her cover may be blown her initial worry was that Chuck may be in danger. Casey assured her that all the intel they had stated that Fulcrum was after her due to her success against them and her relationship with Bryce, but not with any association to the intersect. Casey liked that with the new plan there was no reason for anyone to start digging around to close to Chuck. That was about the only thing he liked about the change in plans. He was confident that Sarah could take care of herself. In fact she was better at hand to hand combat than he was, but for some reason he didn't like using her for bait this time. It just didn't sit right with him. He decided to push away these thoughts and focus on the job at hand.

"I have everything set. We leaked some information that you go for a morning run down at by the pier every day and that that is about the only time you are alone all day. That will be the logical time for them to strike. I could not get as many trustworthy men as we had planned due to the short notice, but we have two teams to back us up. When they try to grab you we will move in and take them down, but we need to move you are supposed to be at the pier in 15 minutes. There are some running clothes in the back."

They pulled off of the road about half of a mile away from the pier. Sarah got out of the car and placed her pistol in her rear waist band. Casey looked out the window at her. "The pier is pretty deserted at this time of day. Stay where you can be seen from the road." Sarah nodded and started to jog away. "Oh and Walker," Sarah stopped and looked back. "We need to interrogate them so try not to kill everyone." Sarah grinned at Casey and then began her jog towards the pier.

Casey had positioned the two teams within a few seconds drive from the pier. He had stayed in his car parked far enough away that he would not be seen but could still see Sarah. He was also listening to the bug that he had placed in the running jacket he had brought for Sarah. Everything was going as planned as she made her way closer to the pier. Casey saw three black vans pull up rapidly as Sarah approached. As they stopped four men jumped out of each van. _Damn it! _Casey had not expected this many men to abduct one girl. Of course this was no ordinary girl and Fulcrum knew that. Casey tried to call for the back-up teams to move in. There was no response. Somewhere in those vans was a device jamming the radio feeds in the immediate area. Casey did no hesitate immediately hitting the accelerator causing his SUV to jump the curb and tear down the sidewalk.

The first group of four reached Sarah. They had expected to surprise her. Quite the opposite happened as she had drawn her weapon and shot two of the men dead and the other two in the leg before they had any idea what happened. This caused the second group of men, who were right behind the first group, to dive for cover.

By this time Casey was nearly on the group of men from the third and final van. The gun play from Sarah had kept their attention from the incoming SUV. Casey never took his foot off of the gas pedal, mowing down two of the men with his front bumper. He then slammed on the brakes and twisted the wheel to the right, sliding to a stop with the passenger side of the vehicle facing the remaining two men in his group.

Sarah had taken cover behind a cement barrier next to the walk way after dispatching the first group of men. The remaining men were not firing at her. Their orders must have been to take her alive. One of the men ran to the cover of their van on the left while two of the others moved closer on the right. On their movement Sarah was able to take out one of the two men moving together. She knew she was cornered and would be flanked soon, but there was nothing she could do.

Casey had exited his SUV and taken cover behind the front quarter panel. He was already in a fire fight with the two remaining men. He was able to take one man out quickly as he was a much superior marksman. As he was engaging the second man, he failed to notice that the fourth man from group two had peeled back and was approaching to his right.

Sarah was able to see the man approaching Casey's position from her location as the man moved to get a clear shot. She yelled warning Casey causing him to turn just as the man fired. The bullet struck Casey near his left shoulder just above the protection of his vest. Casey fell back against his vehicle but returned fire killing the man. Sarah had inadvertently risen from her crouching position as she yelled at her partner. As soon as she had done so she heard a muffled shot from near the vans and felt a dart stick in her neck. The drugs acted quickly and she slumped to the ground. The two men that had flanked Sarah came running towards her as soon as she was unconscious. They picked her up and carried her to the closest van. The third man who had been engaged with Casey had made a dash for the van but Casey was able to shot the man in mid stride. Casey then turned his attention to the van as the men slammed the doors shut and quickly pulled away.

Chuck had spent the next half hour fidgeting in his bed watching the second hand on the clock tick. He had really wished that Sarah was there. He would even settle for Casey. Casey would have called him a wimp for being nervous and then instigated him into having more confidence than he really ought to.

Finally, 7:30 came. The anesthesiologist came into Chuck's room and inserted a needle into the tube attached to Chuck's I.V. She then instructed Chuck to start counting backwards from 100. "100, 99, 98, 97, 96…95…92…93," Chuck was out. The hospital staff wheeled Chuck into another room while Ellie and Devon waited outside.


	2. Chapter 2

There is some mild language and some reference to torture

**There is some mild language and some reference to torture. Please be aware. Thanks for the comments. **

**Chapter 2**

Casey was unable to get the SUV to start after the van had left with Sarah in it. It must have had something to do with the thirty or so bullet holes in the area of the engine. Casey resignedly walked from body to body until he came to the two men that Walker had shot in the leg. One man was in shock and the other was close to it. Casey bent down and placed his gun to the second man's temple. "If you don't tell me where they are taking my partner I will end you right here, right now." Fear shown in the man's eyes but he refused to answer. "I am not going to ask you again," Casey pressed the gun harder into the man's head. The man's eyes started to dance around as his fear continued to grow. "Still nothing?" Casey moved the pistol to the man's foot and pulled the trigger. "I learned this little interrogation method from a friend of mine, and it gets a lot worse if you don't start talking." The man had screamed in pain when Casey shot him in the foot.

"I don't know. I don't know where they are going. I only ever spoke to an agent Masterson on the phone." The man was pleading with Casey. "He would always call with our orders, and his number always came up as restricted. He told us to take the blond and he would call once we were on the highway going south." The man ended with a whimper.

Casey stood and walked away as the back up, curious that they had not been contacted, made their way in. Casey instructed them to call in a cleaning team and get the man in shock to the hospital. _He still has some questions to answer before he is allowed to die_.

The agents followed orders but made sure that Casey was going to the hospital to have his shoulder looked at as well. He had agreed to go, but didn't like the thought. Not that he didn't want his shoulder sown up, he just knew that telling Bartowski what happened was not going to be fun. _The kid may be a wimp but something about that girl being in trouble makes him actually grow a set_.

Chuck woke slowly from his drug induced sleep to see three smiling faces around him. Ellie and Devon were sitting to his left and Morgan was to his right. Anna had to go to work.

"Good morning buddy. How is the melon?" Morgan asked in a whisper.

"Um…Good I guess. Why are you whispering?" Chuck asked a little confused.

"Dude I know how bad your head hurts from a hangover, I am guessing this has to be like that times a million."

"Actually it is not too bad right now. Thanks though."

"The Surgeon said that everything went perfectly. We are going to need to keep a close eye on you for a while, but the news is all encouraging." Ellie looked as though she had been crying but sounded like she was genuinely relieved.

"That's…great." Chuck was looking around the room as he finished sounding a little distracted. "Hey, where is Sarah? She said she would be here when I woke up."

Chuck looked at Ellie, he saw the color drain from her face. "Well Chuck, Casey was giving her a ride to take care of that family thing, and they were car jacked." She had started to speak faster to get out the story before either Chuck interrupted her or she broke into tears. "Casey was shot, but is ok, and Sarah…She…"

"What Ellie? Where is Sarah? I mean is she okay?" Chuck sat up quickly and then grabbed his head. "There's the headache." He lay back on the bed holding his head.

Ellie came running to his side. "Chuck are you okay?"

"I am fine. What is going on with Sarah?" His voice was starting to take on a more commanding tone.

Ellie started to speak but broke into tears, causing Devon to jump in for her. "Chuck she was taken. I am so sorry bro. The police are doing everything they can."

I need to talk to Casey." The emotionless tone to Chuck's voice was unexpected and quite frankly scared the other three people in the room. "Take me to Casey." Chuck knew that they had not been carjacked. That was some sort of cover story and he wanted to the truth.

"Chuck you need to stay in bed, I promise you the police are doing everything they can just like Devon said." Ellie spoke with tears continuing to flow.

Chuck ignored her and started to get out of bed. He made it about half way before Devon and Morgan held him down. "Dude you can't, please!." Morgan was near tears himself.

"Fine I will stay here but you bring Casey to me now." Chuck was furious and it showed.

"I'm already here," came Casey's voice from the doorway. "I think maybe you guys should give us a minute."

Sarah woke without knowing how long she had been out. She estimated that it had been approximately 4 hours. That is how long the average tranq. dart lasted. She was strapped to a chair with her hands behind her back and her ankles to the bottom of the chair. "Damn it! I am really starting to hate being tied up." She said more to herself.

"That's not how I remember things," Bryce's voice came from behind her along with a weak chuckle followed by a cough. He had been tied to a chair directly behind her facing in the opposite direction. His voice sounded very weak and his breathing was very labored.

"Bryce, where are we? What do you know about our situation?"

"I would have to say shit creek and unless you brought a paddle with you…" He started coughing again.

"You okay, Bryce?"

"Been better, but I will live for now. I hope this isn't your idea of a rescue attempt."

"Actually it is." Sarah was looking around the room trying to find a way out of this. There was nothing in the room that would help them. There was only a door and a two way mirror in the room. "Who is holding us?"

Bryce, becoming more serious, answered "An agent Masterson. I don't know him, I don't even know if that is his real name. He's in charge. Besides him I have seen about fifteen different agents at one time or another."

"It is probably safe to say there are a fair number fewer now."

Bryce grinned at her response. He loved seeing her in full on agent mode. This is when he found her most attractive. Also she really was the best, and he was sure that she would have taken out a number of any team before they could bring her in. "I bet there are."

"What do they want?" Sarah continued to assess the situation.

"They think that I either am or know the location of something called the intersect."

Sarah noticing Bryce's tone guessed that someone must be listening and played along, "What is an intersect? And if they think you have it what do they want with me?"

"It is a computer program worth a lot of money to a lot of people. I think they brought you here to get me to talk."

"They do realize that we are completely finished, don't they." Sarah said this firm enough to convince both Bryce as well as anyone listening.

Her words had had an affect on Bryce, "I ah…ya, I am pretty sure they know that." The room was filled with an awkward silence that neither of them broke.

Casey had sat next to Chuck with his left arm in a sling. He had been patient with Chuck as he began to tell him what had happened. He knew that Chuck wanted to know about Sarah and so he had started there. He explained that fulcrum had found out Sarah's location. Washington had decided that when Fulcrum came after her that a trap could be set so that any captured fulcrum agents could be interrogated. He then explained what went wrong with the mission and that Sarah had been taken. He had left out any mention of Bryce and the fact that they had lied to Washington about Chuck being able to flash. He knew Chuck was going to ask why he had not been told about the mission and Casey knew that that would be when he would have to complete the story.

Chuck was so angry that he was having a hard time staying in bed. "Why didn't anyone tell me what was going on. I could have helped and you know that. Why did Fulcrum even want Sarah? You said they don't know anything about me."

"They came after Sarah because they have Bryce. I am guessing they are going to use her to make him talk about the location of the intersect."

Chuck had frozen in place when he heard Bryce's name. "They have Bryce? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well you two have such a wonderful history you know..." Casey was interrupted by Chuck.

"I know that we have a weird history, but I would still have done anything I could to help him."

"That is the problem right there. That is the same reason we had to lie to Washington about you." Casey looked at a shocked Chuck and sighed before continuing. "Chuck I know you would do anything to protect the people in your life, even if they don't all deserve it." Chuck had noticed Casey's use of his first name but kept his mouth shut. Casey's words were a little softer, "If we would have told you about Bryce you would have wanted to look at the information to see what the intersect could tell us. The thing is we don't know what will happen to your noggin if you have a flash right now. Walker was afraid…we both were afraid that it may kill you."

"So instead you keep me in the dark on the sidelines as usual as she goes running off willing to risk being captured to rescue Bryce? Obviously you can see how this may not be helping my self-esteem Casey."

"As for your issues with Bryce, it is time to get over that. Sarah decided that if our plan didn't work and Bryce died…well…he knew what he had gotten himself into. Either way there was no way she was going to risk your safety for him. She decided your life was more important to her than Bryce's. There is no other way to look at it. Besides that, this was not even supposed to be how the plan went down. I was supposed to be the bait not Walker. We only switched when we found out that they were already coming for her. It should have been me the whole time."

Chuck could see that Casey was bothered by Sarah's abduction more than he had let on. He was blaming himself. Chuck's head was throbbing. His temper getting away from him, hearing that Sarah was willing to let Bryce die to protect him, and the fear that he may never see her again was all too much to take at one time. He was experiencing a headache unlike he had ever experienced in his life. The pain along with the realization that Casey was suffering too made all words escape him for a few moments. When he had relaxed enough that the drummer in his head took a small intermission he broke the silence, "Casey, Sarah has always said that if she had to have someone watch her back she would choose you. I know that none of this was your fault." Casey didn't say anything but Chuck could tell he appreciated what he said. "Wait, you said you lied to Washington. About what?" Chuck continued realizing he had nearly missed that part of the conversation.

"Washington wanted us to have you look a some intel as soon as you were awake. Like I said, we didn't know what that would do to you, so we opted for an alternate plan."

"You disobeyed orders?" Chuck asked in disbelief.

"No we opted for an alternate plan." Chuck was about to argue the lack of difference when Casey continued. "Don't make me regret the decision." Chuck grinned and let Casey speak. "Anyway, we decided to tell Washington that you had no new information to provide, which was true…in a manor of speaking." Casey paused. "I guess that may seem similar to disobeying orders to you but…oh hell. We did what needed to be done and if they don't like it they can blow it out their asses."

Chuck couldn't help but grin. "I appreciate everything you have done Casey, but what now? How do we save Sarah?"

"There is one man left from the mission earlier. He was in shock at the scene so I couldn't question him. The doctors had him stable last I checked. As soon as he is awake I'll see if he knows any more than his buddy did."

"What did his buddy tell you?"

"Not much. He told me that they only took orders over the phone and that once they were headed south on the highway with Walker they would receive a call." Casey was careful not to say anything that could cause Chuck to Flash.

"Is that it? No names or anything? You must be losing your touch Casey." Chuck knew that Casey was holding back and was trying to antagonize him into providing the missing information.

"That is all that's worth telling. Push me on it and you will find out first hand if I have lost my touch." Casey walked towards the door, turning just before exiting. "I will let you know if anything changes."

Sarah and Bryce remained tied in their holding cell for quite some time before the door to the room opened. A taller man in his late forties walked into the room with two other men behind him. He stopped standing directly in front of Sarah. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am agent Masterson, and you and I are going to get to know each other very well."


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry that it took a few days. Warning torture involved. Thanks for the reviews.

**Chapter 3 **

"Agent Walker, you cost me 10 good men today." Masterson had bent forward to look Sarah in the eye.

"Good? I think that is being a little generous don't you?" Sarah sounded as confident as ever. "I would say barely adequate would be more appropriate." The two men standing behind Masterson each took as step in her direction. Masterson held up a hand and they held their ground. "Wow, are they paper trained as well?" Sarah continued to antagonize the men.

"You certainly have not disappointed Ms. Walker. I must admit. I didn't think anyone could live up to your reputation. This certainly will be enjoyable."

"Why don't you let me in on the plans for our little tea party here, after all you did go through all the trouble of such a special invitation?"

"Well, Ms Walker, we are going to be asking some very important questions to your special friend here." Masterson pointed to Bryce. "Your part in this will be determined based on the answers he provides."

"Special friend, I don't know where you get your information but we are hardly even on speaking terms, let alone anything beyond. And you guys are supposed to be spies." Sarah's smirked with a condescending tone.

"Well for your sake I hope you are wrong. You see, if Mr. Larkin doesn't provide satisfactory answers to our questions I am afraid you may be made to feel uncomfortable." The agent moved his hand in a small circle. The two other men each grabbed one of the occupied chairs and spun them facing each other. This had given Sarah her first look at Bryce's condition. He was nearly unrecognizable. Both of his eyes were almost completely swollen shut, his nose was obviously broken, and his lips were cut and bleeding, and he was slouched forward as if he were guarding a few broken ribs. His right pinky finger was dislocated pointing away from the rest of his hand, and his thigh was covered in blood where it looked like he had been stabbed at one time. It took all of Sarah's strength not to gasp at the sight of her former lover. They must not have been able to get anything out of him, though it didn't look like it was from a lack of trying. That is why they had decided to go another route, her. She was not going to enjoy her stay here, of that she was sure.

"I just wanted you to have an idea of what is coming Ms. Walker. I will give you an opportunity to try to talk some sense into Mr. Larkin. The more cooperative he is the easier this will be on you." Masterson and the two men turned and left the room.

---

Chuck and Casey were both impatient as they waited for the captured fulcrum agent to wake. When they received word that he finally had Casey went to "Talk to him." The NSA had posted a man that Casey felt he could trust outside the room to keep them from being interrupted.

About 15 minutes later Casey walked out of the man's room. A small crowd of nurses had accumulated outside the door due to the screams they had heard coming from inside the room. Casey was adjusting his sling as he exited the room. He looked at the gawking group and shrugged. "Poor guy. He's a Rays fan, isn't taking the loss well, but man does he get into his baseball." The crowd did not really buy his explanation but no one had any intention of confronting either Casey or the other very intimidating agent at the door.

Casey made his way to Chuck's room. As soon as he opened the door Chuck was questioning as to what he had found out. "What did he give you? Did he say any names or locations?" The hopeful look on Chuck's face faded as Casey walked into the room shaking his head.

"Nothing. He didn't tell me anything. I'm sorry kid."

"That's alright. You can just go and get me the files that they sent you earlier and I can see if there is anything the intersect can give us."

"Bartowski, we don't know what would happen if you had a flash. You may end up dead."

"If I don't look at them then Sarah is as good as dead. I will not just sit back and let her die."

"I know, that's why it is not your decision. You are not going to see those files until I know there is no other option. Until that time you are going to stay in bed and rest up. I will go contact Washington and see how they want to proceed."

"Casey you know that they will just cut the lose ends. You have always told me that agents and assets are expendable. They're just going to let her die."

Casey was unable to respond because there was some truth to what Chuck had said. Washington would be willing to send a rescue mission in if they had any information to go on. Right now they had a name only. The General's primary concern will be making sure that Chuck is safe. With two people that know he is the intersect in captivity, his safety can not be guaranteed. They are going to want Chuck relocated, and they probably will leave Walker to fend for her self_. Damn it_. Casey was torn on what the best course of action would be. _Well, I have already lied once, what can a couple more times hurt?_

"Listen kid, I have to make a couple phone calls. I will be back." Casey didn't give Chuck a chance to argue, nor did he look back as he left. He had decided he wasn't quite ready to give up on Walker yet either.

Chuck was left in his room feeling lost. When he had first found out about Sarah's capture he had clung to the hope that the fulcrum agent would provide them with something that could help them find Sarah. This is how things always work. _They give me a couple small details and I fill in the rest with the intersect. Casey has to know something, anything. It is not his job to protect me, well ya it is, but not when we don't even know if a flash would hurt me. Even if it did, it would be worth it to save Sarah._

Chuck could not sit around any longer. He gingerly climbed out of bed. _Casey said that he had some calls to make. Maybe I can find out what he knows that way._ Chuck snuck out of his room looking both ways pulling the stand for his I.V. behind him.

---

Bryce and Sarah had sat silently strapped to their chairs. Sarah's thoughts were focused on their escape, while Bryce had seemed less focused. Finally he seemed to have enough of his own thoughts and decided to address Sarah. "So seems like things must be going pretty well for you. Last time our paths crossed you were a little more excited to see me."

"Things are better now than they have ever been." Again her tone seemed to be trying to convey a very clear message to Bryce. "I am happier now than I ever even knew I could be."

"Really…If I had to, I think I could guess why. I do have to admit though I am a little surprised. He doesn't really seem like your type."

Sarah looked at the mirror and the back at Bryce, knowing that Bryce was talking about Chuck. "You have no idea what my type even is. You really don't know much of anything about me."

"I don't know anything about you? I know your name, where your apartment is. I know your three favorite ways to kill a man." Bryce had developed a smug grin. "I know you better than you know yourself let alone better than Chuc…"

"Bryce!" Sarah said trying to prevent him from finishing Chuck's name.

The second the word came out of his mouth Bryce knew he had made a mistake. He immediately tried to play it off as if the name he had mentioned meant nothing. "I don't care who your new boyfriend is. I am just surprised that you could go for some nobody."

Sarah was furious that Bryce could make such a mistake. It was not like him at all. Sarah knew that the damage had been done and that the best course of action was to continue to act as if Chuck was irrelevant. "He may not be anyone special in our world, and he may not know my real name, but he knows more about me than you ever even cared to learn." Sarah finished with a stare so cold that Bryce felt a chill go down his spine.

---

In the adjacent room Masterson smiled. He had noticed the misspoken name. He was unsure whether he was anyone of importance, but he had come across a man named Chuck in his preparation of picking up agent Walker. _Whether he is important or not, he may be able to help expedite this process. Let's pay this Chuck a visit._ He thought to himself as he walked out of the room followed by two men.

---

The tension filled silence in the holding room was broken when a man with a bandaged face opened the door approximately 15 minutes later. He was not one of the men that had been in the room with Sarah earlier. He had opened the door and then looked up and down the hall before coming into the room. Sarah was unable to get a good look at the man's actions as her back was to him. Bryce, who was able to see the man, smiled an arrogant smile. "How's the nose?"

The man had walked far enough into the room that Sarah could now see him holding a hammer in his hand. Bryce's comment had seemed to anger the man. "It is good, how is the finger?" He pointed to the grossly deformed finger on Bryce's hand.

"Ah…I never was much for playing the piano anyway." Bryce had resumed the confident tone in his voice that had temporarily betrayed him while speaking with Sarah. "So you come to ask me some more questions? Want to know my favorite color, or how about my favorite movie?"

"No, No questions this time. It seems like agent Masterson is done trying to convince you to cooperate for a little while. He decided to check on another lead, but don't worry blondie. He is going to be right back to deal with you. Between you and some dweeb we are sure that we can get what we want." It was if someone had kicked Sarah in the stomach. Someone had been listening and had caught Bryce's mistake. The cold glare she had given Bryce earlier was mild in comparison to the hatred filled stare that was threatening to bore a hole straight through Bryce. The man turned to Bryce and continued. "I just didn't think that you had really gotten what you had coming. I feel like I was being cheated out of some fun." The man had walked over and cut the ties on Bryce's bare right foot. He then used his left hand to hold Bryce's foot flat on the cement floor and before Bryce could react the man had struck, driving the hammer down with his right hand striking Bryce's foot in the area of his two smallest toes. The sound of breaking bones was followed quickly with a blood curdling scream from Bryce.

---

Chuck had walked to the room in which Casey had been earlier in the day, careful not to be seen by anyone that would recognize him. The room was empty allowing him to enter and begin rifling through Casey's things trying to find any clue of what information Casey wasn't sharing with him. He had only been able to look around for a few seconds before the door to the room began to open. Chuck had been standing next to the doorway to the small bathroom, which became his hiding spot. He was just able to close the door most of the way before Casey came walking in. Chuck peaked out through the slightly ajar door watching Casey walk to his things and pull out his cell phone.

"Hi…Ya it has been a while. Actually I need to call in a favor." Chuck was shocked when he realized that Casey had not called his superiors to get orders. Casey's conversation continued. "This is to be kept between us is that clear? Good, I need some information about an agent that has gone to the dark side." Chuck laughed to himself as he heard Casey make a Star Wars reference. _I knew he had to like those movies, I bet he was a Solo fan. _Casey had finally gotten the reassurance that he needed from the other end of the line. "Okay the agent's name is Masterson."

As soon as Chuck heard the name a series of images flashed through his head. He saw images of a sunflower, an awards ceremony, a document with the word fulcrum stamped in red across the top, as well as a house in LA. Chuck felt a sharp pain in his temple as the flash came to an end. He tried to lean on the sink to support himself, but the dizziness that had suddenly hit him was overwhelming. He fell to the floor knocking over some toiletries that crashed to the floor next to him. The pain in Chuck's head was more intense than any he had yet experienced. He was fighting to stay conscious as the bathroom door swung open revealing Casey holding his weapon outstretched. As soon as Casey realized that it was Chuck lying on the floor he knew that Chuck had heard the name and flashed. "Damn it Bartwoski." Casey ran to the door of the room with a worried look on his face and calling to the nurses and doctors in the hall for help. He returned to Chuck, who was just about to lose consciousness, "Hold on kid. Help is on the way."

Chuck looked up at Casey and was able to whimper, "231 Walton ave," before closing his eyes giving in to the blackness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **__

Two nurses followed shortly by a doctor came rushing into Casey's room and over to Chuck. Casey moved away giving them room to work. As he did so he remembered the address that Chuck had given him, pulling out a pen and paper from his bag and writing down the street and number. After writing down the address Casey looked down at Chuck still lying on the floor. _I really hope the idiot didn't get himself dead_. The thought gave Casey a cold feeling. The rollercoaster events that had made up the past few days had shown him that his view of death had changed. He had always looked at death as an inevitable consequence of life, and if and when it came for the people around him or even himself, so be it. He no longer felt the same ambivalence towards death. He was around people that truly cared for one another, even cared for him. Death would bring actual loss. It had been a long time in his life since he had felt that way.

The doctor finally spoke to Casey breaking him from his thoughts. "He seems stable but we need to do further tests." A few other nurses as well as another doctor had entered the room and helped lift Chuck onto a gurney. They had wheeled Chuck about half-way down the hall when Ellie, who had heard what was going on through the nursing staff, met up with them. She was in full doctor mode and made no attempt to speak to Casey other than to ask what had happened. Casey had told her that Chuck had walked down to his room even though he had told Chuck to stay in bed, and when he found him he was barely conscious. Ellie had turned to the other doctors to get a report of Chuck's status as they continued down the hall. To Casey relief she seemed to find some comfort in what she was being told.

"John, it doesn't sound like the aneurysm has hemorrhaged, though Chuck's whole condition has been very strange. We are going to perform some more tests just to be sure, because we are not really sure what is going on with Chuck's brain. Either way it looks like he is going to be alright for now."

Casey could tell that she was telling the truth and he was relieved that Chuck seemed as if he were going to be okay. _That is until I get a hold of him once he wakes up_. Casey grinned as he thought to himself. He then looked at the paper in his hand. _Well if the kid is willing to risk everything to get the address I may as well make sure it wasn't for nothing_. Casey, satisfied that Chuck would be alright until he got back, walked towards the door of the hospital dropping his sling in the trash as he left.

---

Casey had made it to the building relatively quickly and had made a few calls to some men he could trust. The building that Chuck had given the address for was an old brick building that had been the home of a number of businesses over the years. There was a front and rear door, as well as a window that could be accessed from the alley next to the building. A friend and three other agents were in route for backup and in the meantime had sent him a digital copy of the blueprints of the building as well as a picture of agent Masterson. It turns out that he was an agent from Nor. Cal, though he had never really stood out from the crowd. He had been in the agency for 22 years but had failed to advance in his career. _Figures, some nobody that can't advance by doing his job is going to try to take a shortcut. He is probably going to use the intersect to climb the ranks of Fulcrum, or just sell it to the highest bidder. Scumbag!_ Casey thought to himself.

Now that Casey had some further information on the building layout the next thing he needed to know was how many men were in the building. He had taken one quick trip around the place and peaked in some windows before returning to his car. He had only been there for approximately 20 minutes before a small group of men exited from the building. The first man out the door was agent Masterson, followed closely by three other men. Masterson and two of the men climbed into a black sedan while the fourth man leaned into the window. Casey was able to listen into their conversation using a long range listening device.

"Don't trust the new guys. We needed to replenish our numbers thanks to Ms. Walker, but I don't know who all can be relied on just yet. Keep them out of the basement. They are all to be kept on a need to know basis in regards to our visitors, and keep an eye on Vincent. He is still pretty pissed about his nose. Let him have some fun but make sure he doesn't kill anyone." As Masterson finished his instructions the man stood and walked back up to the door and went inside.

---

Vincent had grinned a very satisfied grin after smashing the toes on Bryce's foot. Apparently content with the amount of pain that Bryce seemed to be in he had left the room shortly after. Bryce had taken a few minutes to compose himself even enough to hear that Sarah was trying to talk to him.

"Bryce…Bryce listen to me…Bryce!" Sarah did not seem to have any compassion in her voice as she tried to get his attention.

"Sorry I am a little distracted by my foot being smashed!" Bryce was very short with Sarah, as he was unappreciative of her lack of empathy.

"If we don't get out of here they will be back to continue what they started, and now we know that they are going to do the same if not worse to Chuck."

Hearing Chuck's name had helped to bring Bryce back into focus. He was trying to suppress the pain as he had been trained to do, with only mild success. "Chuck," he had said this mainly to himself, almost too quiet for Sarah to hear.

"Yes, Chuck," her anger at Bryce was starting to build again, "since you so effectively brought an innocent man into this."

"I know…I should have never mentioned his name. It was a mistake."

"Yes it was." Sarah said through gritted teeth. "It was a mistake that an agent straight off of the farm would know not to make."

"Alright, I said I know it was a mistake." He had started to raise his tone which only enraged Sarah further.

"Well for being someone that is supposed to be such a great agent you think you would know better than mention anyone's name, let alone someone you claim is your friend, I mean…"

Sarah was interrupted by Bryce. "I'm sorry!" He nearly screamed in a hurt tone. "I am sorry." He repeated sounding very defeated.

Sarah was unable to respond. In all the time she had ever known Bryce he had never sounded so remorseful. He had apologized to her in the past for more things than she cared to think about at the moment, but he always had a way of maintaining his confident demeanor throughout. This was different. His shoulders had slouched, his head was hung. This was a man who was truly remorseful. "I don't know what happened. I just saw the way you looked at me, or more accurately the way you didn't look at me. You used to look at me like there was no one else you would rather be looking at. You used to make me feel…Things are so different now." Bryce was unable to put his thoughts into words. Sarah remained quiet feeling both anger at his involvement of Chuck, as well as awe for the side of Bryce she had never seen before. Bryce looked up from the spot on the floor he had been staring at. "I know the affect that Chuck has on people. You can't be around him for more than ten minutes without him working his way under your skin, but I never thought that you would fall for him. I guess I was…am jealous."

Sarah's anger was about to boil over as she realized that Bryce was admitting that he had mentioned Chuck's name out of jealousy. She was just about to begin a tirade the like of which Bryce had never known when he noticed her expression and quickly added. "Even though I am jealous I would never intentionally hurt you or Chuck. He is my best friend, really my only friend. I swear to you I just wasn't' thinking. It just kind of came out. I didn't do it on purpose."

"You may not have done it on purpose, but unless we get out of here, you may have just cost your only friend his life." Sarah voice remained even with a deadly chill to her voice. "And if that happens not even God himself will be able to protect you."

---

"Blueprints show the stairwell to the basement is in the middle of first floor. I am guessing that is where they have our agents. There has been no activity in any of the upstairs windows of the building." Casey was explaining the layout and the plan to the four agents that had arrived for back-up. They had met about a block away in an empty 7-11 parking lot. "You two are going to go through the front and you two go in the back." Casey pointed to the two teams of men. "Don't worry about rushing in. I more just want you to engage the men inside so I can get in the window from the alley unnoticed if possible. That room should give me a straight shot down into the basement. I will go in grab our agents and get out. Getting out could be interesting unless Walker and Larkin are able to help out. We will have to be quick getting to them. If we take too long to get to them there is a good chance that someone could decide to cut there losses and put a bullet in their heads."

The three teams were in position waiting for the designated time to enter the building. Casey was mentally preparing for his portion of the plan. _Enter the building quickly, shoot anyone not named Walker and possibly Larkin_. One minute before go-time the young man that Casey had seen speaking to Masterson earlier came walking down the alley lighting a cigarette.

"Hey you, what are you doing up there?" The man yelled looking at Casey who was standing on a dumpster near the window. The younger man had placed his right hand under his jacket as he yelled at Casey.

"Hi my name is John. I was just wondering if you know if this place was for sale." Casey hopped down from the dumpster and walked toward the man with a smile on his face. "I just retired early and am looking to open up a fly fishing supply store…"

The man interrupted Casey. "The place is not for sale, now why don't you just get on out of here."

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to bother anyone. I guess I had better get going then." A small beeping noise came from Casey's watch as he started to walk up the alley towards the front of the building. His path took him directly past the younger man. Casey stopped a few feet past the man and turned back to him, "Oh, there is one more thing before I go."

The man merely looked at Casey and rolled his eyes. He had dropped his hand away from the gun he had hidden underneath his jacket. "Ya?" He asked as he slowly turned to face Casey.

The man had nearly turned completely facing Casey when a clinched fist struck him with such speed that he had no chance to block the blow. Casey had landed a right cross square to his jaw knocking the man out cold. "Learn to show some respect to your elders."

Just as the man fell to the ground, Casey heard gun shots from the front of the building followed a few seconds later by shots towards the rear of the building. He was supposed to be in the building and to the stairwell by now. _Damn it_. He leapt back on top of the dumpster drawing his weapon. He leaned against the wall next to the window and peered in. There was one man in the room though his full attention was in the opposite direction. Casey took aim shooting the man through window causing the glass to shatter and fall to the floor. He climbed through the now open space into the room and quickly made his way to the doorway of the room. From this position he could see the stairwell into the basement. As he suspected there were lights on in the stairwell and he could hear at least two men already running down the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sarah had been franticly looking around the room for the hundredth time for anything she could possibly use to get herself loose, while Bryce had sat quietly for a few minutes trying to suppress the pain he was experiencing. Bryce seemed to come to some kind of conclusion and broke the silence. "Sarah, can you hop you chair over closer to me?"

Sarah was a little confused but answered, "Yes I think I can. Why?"

"Just do it before I have too much time to think about this." Sarah stopped asking question and did as he said. "Now, tip your chair to your left. Watch you don't hit your head when it falls." Bryce had instructed when she was only a foot in front of his chair. Again Sarah looked confused but played along. She started rocking her chair side to side, and after a few seconds she had enough momentum to cause the chair to fall to her left. Landing on the cement floor was not comfortable, but she had been able to keep her head from impacting the floor.

"What now? Should I take a nap?" Sarah was becoming frustrated at not knowing what Bryce had planned.

Bryce didn't answer as he slowly lifted his right foot. Vincent had failed to retie his foot to the chair after hitting it with the hammer. Bryce seemed to be focusing very hard on the leg of Sarah's chair, where he was now resting his foot.

"You are kidding me right? You made me lie on the floor so that you could elevate your foot?" Sarah was exasperated.

Again Bryce did not even look at her. He closed his eyes and slowly raised his leg a little further. He had lifted his foot about six inches over the leg of the chair when he suddenly crashed his foot down. The leg of the chair cracked under the force of his kick. The jarring of his broken foot had been excruciating causing Bryce to let out a scream of pain; As the pain truly set in his face became drenched making it impossible to discern sweat from any tears. The leg of the chair was at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the chair but it had not broken loose. With a whimper, but without hesitation, Bryce lifted his leg and again kicked the leg of the chair. This time the leg of the chair had broken completely from the chair allowing the bonds holding Sarah's ankles to the chair to come loose. Bryce again screamed in agony this time with his head falling to his chest.

Sarah lay on the floor in shock for a few seconds before realizing that her feet were free. She looked at Bryce who looked like he was about to pass out due to pain. She knew there was nothing should could say at the moment to help him, and instead focused her attention on getting to her feet. She turned her self on the floor until she could reach the wall with her feet. She then kicked off of the wall and turned herself onto her knees with her forehead resting on the ground. From this position she was able to stand, though she still had three quarters of a chair attached to her back.

It was at that very moment that Sarah and Bryce heard the first gun shots from upstairs. Sarah looked at Bryce, "Calvary is here. We need to be ready to move." She walked over to the mirror and swung the chair with all the strength that her position would allow. The rear legs of the chair struck the mirror causing it to shatter.

_Seven years bad luck_, she thought to herself. She then used the ledge that had been at the bottom of the mirror to pry the seat of the chair free from the chair backing by placing the ledge between her rear and the seat of the chair and pushing against the wall with her legs. When the chair gave way she fell forward onto her knees. Her hands where still strapped together behind her back but she was able to shake free of the remaining pieces of the chair. Just as Sarah began to stand the door to the room swung open in a hurry.

Vincent had come running into the room gun drawn only to stop dead in his tracks at seeing the tall blonde standing before him. "What the…"

Sarah had struck before Vincent had a chance to get his bearings. She had kicked the gun from his hand with her right foot, then spun and kicked him in the gut with her left knocking Vincent back against the wall. Sarah stepped towards him to continue her attack, but this time Vincent was more prepared blocking her next two kicks. Once he had regained his breath Vincent smiled, "This almost doesn't even seem fair."

"You're right; I only have two hands tied behind my back. You want me to put on a blind fold or something to even it out?" Sarah followed her comment with another attack. This time she was able to land a few blows to Vincent's abdomen before he was able to hit her across the face with a hard right. The blow had knocked Sarah back and bloodied her lip. More importantly it really pissed her off. She had been crouched to her right after receiving the blow. She took a deep breath and calmly stood and faced her opponent. Vincent who had taken the moment to catch his breath smiled and started in on Sarah again. He had thrown three punches, all missing their mark as Sarah was able to dodge them rather easily. Sarah had also been able to knee Vincent in the abdomen following his third missed punch. Again Vincent had stumbled back, but he was no longer smiling. He now had a very angry expression on his face. He let out a small scream as he rushed Sarah. She waited until Vincent was nearly to her before squatting quickly and sweeping her right leg into his, tripping him. Vincent fell, landing flat on his face. Before he could move Sarah struck, driving her foot into his side followed by her knee into the side of the man's head knocking him out.

---

Casey had moved as quickly as he could to get to the stairwell. He had only been held up a minute or two in a fire fight with a man that had been standing at the top of the stairs. Finally the man had made the mistake of looking to far around the corner, only to end up falling dead at the top of the stairs as the result of one of Casey's bullets. Casey picked up the man's body carrying it in front of him as he made his way down the stairs. He had seen at least two men run down the stairs so he knew they had to be down here somewhere. The stairwell turned to the right at the bottom ending in a shut door. Casey was only 5 steps from the door when it swung open. A man fired two shots at Casey striking the dead human shield he was carrying. Casey returned fire killing the man.

---

Sarah had been able to use a shard of the broken mirror to cut her wrist restraints and then free Bryce. He had been able to revive himself from nearly passing out, though he was in no condition to walk on his own let alone fight. Sarah stood to his right helping him stand. They slowly made their way to the door. Sarah leaned Bryce against the wall as she peered into the hallway holding the gun she had taken from Vincent. The room they were in was at the end of a hallway. Besides the room Sarah was standing in and door that would have led to the room behind the mirror, there was one other door closer to the other end of the hallway. At the opposite end of the hallway was an open door revealing a stairwell. Sarah could see a man lying dead in the doorway. As she watched down the hallway should could also see movement in the stairwell, as a man was making his was into the hallway. She had raised the gun readying herself to shoot when she realized that the man was Casey.

"Casey!" Sarah stage whispered to get his attention.

Casey made eye contact with Sarah and made a hand motion to stay where she was. He then entered the hallway and turned to be in position to watch for anyone else to come down the stairs. The fire fight up stairs had slowed slightly but there was still shooting in both the front and rear of the building. Casey, now in position, waved for Sarah and Bryce to come to him. Sarah helped Bryce as they slowly made their way down the hallway. They had just walked past the third door in the hallway when Sarah stopped. She leaned Bryce against the wall and turned back to the door leaning in close to listen. Sarah motioned for the other two men to get against the wall. She crouched down and swung the door open. Standing behind the door was a fulcrum agent that had been preparing to jump them. He was caught off guard when the door swung open. Before he could aim his drawn pistol Sarah had dispatched him with two shots to the chest.

"Good catch Walker." Casey snickered as he complimented his partner.

Sarah took the point as they began up the stairs. Casey had taken over helping Bryce walk. "Let's go pretty boy. Well I guess right now that may not fit so well." Casey made a face of mock disgust as he looked at Bryce's face.

Bryce just shook his head and responded to Casey's jab, "I have been tortured for the past few days, what's your excuse."

"Alright you two, you can decide who has been beaten with the ugly stick once we get out of here. We have to get to Chuck before they do."

"What's that now Walker?" Casey, unaware that Masterson was after Chuck, was surprised by her comment.

"Long story, I will explain once we are on the road." Sarah didn't look at Casey, instead starting up the stairs to keep him from asking any other questions. This also left Casey to help Bryce up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs Casey handed Bryce off to Sarah so he could take a look. They were clear to make a dash to the room containing the window Casey had entered through. He and Walker both helped Bryce quickly into the room. Sarah went out the window first and helped Bryce through. Once Bryce was standing on the dumpster she looked up at Casey. "You coming?"

"Not yet, there are still a few people I would like to meet." Casey smiled and held his gun up as he spoke. He explained where the car was, and told them that if he was not out in two minutes to leave without him and get to Chuck. Sarah was helping Bryce down that alley when Casey disappeared back into the window. Soon after, the rate of gunfire significantly increased. By the time she had helped Bryce to the car the shooting had stopped and the front door of the building swung open. Casey came trotting across the street just in time to grab Sarah's hand as she reached for the driver's side door. She sighed but decided to let him drive and ran to the front passenger side.

Sarah looked at Casey as he jumped into the driver's seat with a very large grin on his face. "That didn't take long."

"So easy it almost wasn't satisfying…almost that is." Casey seemed very please with himself.

As soon as Casey put the car in drive Sarah informed him about Masterson going after Chuck. Casey was not too impressed with Bryce's slip-up and was ready to give him the full on John Casey harassment through both barrels when he noticed Sarah pull out her phone. Casey looked at her with a little concern on his face. "Who are you calling?"

"Chuck I have to let him know that we are okay and that he is in danger."

Casey stopped at a red light. "You can't call him right now."

"Casey, he needs to know that someone could be on their way." The annoyance in her voice was clear.

"That is not what I meant." Sarah stopped dialing and looked at Casey.

"What is going on Casey? What's wrong with Chuck?" Sarah's worry growing as she spoke.

Casey looked at her ignoring the beeping of horns behind him, as the light had turned green. "Bartowski, the stubborn ass that he is, took it upon himself to sneak into my room and listen to me talking on the phone. He heard me say Masterson's name and flashed." Sarah had let out a small gasp as she heard this. Casey continued, "Ellie said that it didn't look like the aneurysm had hemorrhaged and that he was in no immediate danger though he was still unconscious when I left." Finally turning his eyes back to the road Casey floored punched the accelerator to the floor. His car shooting through a yellow light, leaving the car behind him stuck at the intersection as the light changed to red.

"No immediate danger? That is where she is wrong. Wait until I get my hands on him." Sarah was very red in the face with anger.

"My sentiments exactly, but to be fair does it really surprise you. It is you we are talking about." Sarah looked at Casey questioning what he had meant by that. "Seriously, you can not be surprised that he would risk a flash to save you."

"He could have been killed. That was so stupid." Her anger continued to grow.

Casey looked at her as if to say you have to be kidding me. "What did you expect him to do lie in bed and do nothing. This is the same Chuck Bartowski that has never really got a handle on following orders. As soon as he found out that you had been taken he would have crawled through the fires of hell to save you, and you know it. Pathetic if you ask me." Sarah snapped a glare at Casey though she instantly softened. She could tell by the expression on Casey's face that he had not meant it. He meant what he said about Chuck crawling through hell, but not that he found it pathetic. The thought of Chuck being willing to do anything for her brought a small smile to her face. After all, if the roles were reversed she would have gladly risked her life to save him. Casey broke her thought by adding, "Either way he was able to give me the address before he lost consciousness.

"Sounds like our Chuck has it pretty bad." Bryce had finally broken the silence he had been maintaining from the back seat. He kept his tone light but it did not completely mask his disappointment.

Since Sarah was still not interested in talking to Bryce at the moment Casey was the one to respond. "You have no idea." As he said this he stole a glance at Sarah, knowing that Chuck wasn't the only one.

---

Ellie and Devon had been sitting in the waiting room right outside of the radiology department while Chuck was having his most recent CT scan performed. He had not regained consciousness yet, but his vitals were stable. The door opened revealing a man in a white coat that neither Ellie nor Devon recognized. Ellie stood as the man approached and extended his hand.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Jim Williams. I assume that you are Dr. Bartowski."

Yes I am," Ellie had a confused look on her face. "And this is my fiancé Dr. Devon Woodcomb."

It is a pleasure to meet you both. I bet you are wondering who I am and what I am doing here," Ellie nodded but allowed the man to continue. "The head of neurology Dr. Bhadi and I were at University together. I am a neurologist myself. I specialize in unique cases, and when Dr. Bhadi called me to see if I had ever seen a case like your brothers I had to come and examine him. I hope you don't mind."

Ellie responded with a smile. "Of course not, I appreciate you coming to help my brother. He should be done with his most recent CT scan any minute now."

"It is my pleasure I assure you. I think it would be best if I were to get started on reviewing your brother's case if you would please excuse me."

"Of course and thank you so very much. If there is anything else you need please just ask." Ellie replied.

"I think I will have everything I need shortly." Dr. Williams shook both Ellie and Devon's hands one more time before turning and entering the radiology department. As he turns his back to the other two doctors he reveals a very sinister smile.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Casey and Sarah had dropped Bryce off at another hospital employing CIA doctors before continuing on to the hospital where Chuck was being cared for. They could not risk bringing Bryce to the same hospital as Chuck; as there were too many people that could potentially blow his and team Chuck's cover if he were to be seen. Casey could tell that Sarah was anxious to arrive, as she had been fidgeting madly the entire ride. So he dropped her off at the front entrance before he parked the car.

Sarah rushed into the hospital and directly to Chuck's room. Finding it empty, she asked the receptionist at the nurse's station where she could find Chuck Bartowski. The nurse had resisted telling her at first but agreed after Sarah had explained that she was his girlfriend. After checking the computer system the receptionist was able to tell her that he was currently signed into the radiology department on the seventh floor for some testing.

---

Ellie and Devon were sitting in the waiting room just outside of the radiology department. Sarah had made it only a few steps into the room when Ellie realized she was approaching. Ellie jumped to her feet and ran to Sarah, throwing her arms around her. "I can't believe you're here! We were afraid we would never see you again. What happened? How did you get away from the carjackers?" In her excitement Ellie was rambling, a trait Sarah had learned that was common amongst the Bartowski family.

In her rush to find Chuck, Sarah had forgotten that everyone outside of team Chuck had thought that she had been abducted as part of a car-jacking. "Oh…I was able to jump out of the car when they stopped at a stop light. I got away and called the police, but I'm fine now. How is Chuck?"

Ellie was a little shocked that Sarah could be so nonchalant about being kidnapped but saw the concern in Sarah's face. "He is okay. We really don't know much right now. He lost consciousness earlier today, and we really don't know why. The good news being, it doesn't look like his aneurysm has hemorrhaged."

"That is good to hear." Sarah, for some reason, felt a little more at ease hearing this from Ellie than she had from hearing it from Casey. "When will we know more?"

"Actually I am a little surprised that we haven't heard at least something already. The test should have been completed some time ago. Dr. Williams must be performing more of an examination on Chuck."

"Dr. Williams? I haven't met him yet. Is he a doctor here at the hospital too?"

"No actually, we just met him ourselves. He went to school with the head of our neurology department. He just got here a little while ago. He seems really nice." Devon smiled as he added, "It is pretty awesome of him to take an interest in Chuck's care like this."

Sarah grinned in return, however hers had a nervousness buried beneath the brilliant gleam that accompanied her beautiful smile. "Really? That is very nice of him." Sarah had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something about this situation was wrong. She had no proof, but somehow she knew Chuck was in danger. "Ellie, I think I saw Casey pulling into the parking lot as I came in. I don't think he knows where to find us. Maybe you could run down and let him know where we are."

"Sure, I can do that. You know, I would have never guessed that he would end up being such a good friend to Chuck. Some people can really fool you can't they." Ellie smiled as she turned and walked away with Devon holding his arm around her.

Sarah waited until the pair had entered the elevator before she turned to the radiology doors that read "Hospital Staff Only." She looked around as she slowly pushed one of the doors open and walked through. There were only a few people in the radiology department and no one seemed to care that she was there. She had been able to check every room without finding Chuck. Actually there didn't seem to be any patients having testing done at that particular time. She finally found a nurse and asked if she knew where she could find Chuck Bartowski. The nurse looked at her with shock at hearing Chuck's name.

"I am sorry but immediately following his tests Mr. Bartowski experienced some complications and had to be rushed out of the testing area. I think they were heading for the emergency OR rooms on the fourth floor."

Sarah did not reply, instead turning and sprinting as fast as her legs would take her to the elevator, the nurse running after her, "Ms…Ms. Please wait!" Sarah hit the down button as soon as she reached the elevator. She only waited a second before deciding the stairs would be faster. Just as the door to the stairwell shut behind her; the elevator doors she has just left opened. As they did so Ellie, Devon, and Casey stepped out and nearly collided with the now out of breath nurse who had been chasing after Sarah.

"Patty," Ellie exclaimed touching her hand to the arm of the nurse. "Is everything alright?"

Patty was now bent forward with her hands on her knees. "I am sorry Dr. Bartowski, but there was some kind of complication with your brother." She paused a second trying to catch her breath. "His vitals crashed shortly after his tests."

Ellie's face went white. "Why wasn't I told about this?" Ellie screamed at the nurse, as she took a step in her direction.

"I am so sorry but it only happened a short while ago and Dr. Williams claimed that Chuck wasn't being treated appropriately for his condition and that is what caused him to crash in the first place. He said that it would be best for Chuck if he took over his care. He made everyone, except the two male nurses he had brought with him, leave the room."

"He did what? That doesn't make any sense." Ellie's voice filled more with confusion than anger now.

"I didn't think so either, but I didn't think it was a good time to argue with Chuck crashing and all. I think they were on their way to the fourth floor. That is what I told Chuck's girlfriend."

"You talked to Sarah?" Casey joined the conversation.

"Yes but I only got to tell her that there was a complication and where they took Chuck. She was gone before I could tell her anything else."

---

Sarah had reached the doors to the OR in a matter of seconds. There were substantially more people in this area of the hospital. There was also more security. She was just about to burst through the main doors separating the waiting room and the actual OR, when a security guard stopped her.

"I am sorry Ms. but you can not go in there."

Sarah had fire in her eyes. "It is a matter of national security that I do, so you will excuse me." Sarah began to step around the large man as she said this.

"I am sure it is, but you still can not go in there." He had stepped to his side staying in front of Sarah, preventing her from going around him.

"I do not have time to argue with you, so you will either move now or I will move you," her tone remaining very forceful.

The man chuckled. Though the blonde standing in front of him was tall and fit, he had a good 5 inches and probably one hundred pounds on her, besides he had dealt with upset family members in the past. "Listen Ms. If you go in there you could contaminate the area and cost one of the patients having surgery their life."

His words were softly spoken and effective. Sarah had taken a step back. Fortunately for the guard, Sarah had taken heed to his words. If she had not, he more than likely would have been seriously injured. She had realized that the man was only trying to protect the other patients having surgery. Though she was no longer on the verge of tearing him apart for standing in her way, her voice had yet to soften completely, "Have you at least seen a patient being rushed in? His name is Charles Bartowski and he would have been coming from radiology."

Before the guard could answer a male nurse walked up to Sarah catching her attention. "I am sorry Ms. but did you say Bartowski?"

"Yes I did. Do you know where he can be found or what his condition is?"

The man looked at Sarah with a solemn expression. "I sorry to have to tell you this, but Mr. Bartowski passed away a few moments ago. We did everything we could. I am so very sorry for your loss."

Sarah stood perfectly still as if the man's words had turned her to stone. "Chuck's dead?" The words came out as a little more than a whisper.

---

Ellie, Devon, Casey, and Patty had immediately taken the elevator to the fourth floor. They had nearly made it to the OR doors, when they saw Sarah standing next to a security guard and speaking to a male nurse. They had been unable to hear what the nurse was saying to Sarah. However Ellie had nearly reached Sarah's side when she heard the shocked tone in Sarah's voice almost pleading for the nurse to be lying, "Chuck's dead?"

"What did you say?" Ellie could not believe what she had just heard; fear that she had heard correctly stealing her breath.

Sarah had been unaware that Ellie was standing next to her. She turned to answer her, but no words would come. Sarah's eyes filled with tears as she looked into Ellie's eyes. Ellie realizing that she had heard correctly began sobbing and nearly had her knees buckle beneath her. Devon had held her in his arms to prevent her from collapsing to the floor. Sarah on the other hand had her despair turn to anger.

"No! This can't be happening. Everyone just said that he was going to be fine. His aneurysm didn't hemorrhage, that is what everyone said. I can not lose him…I have to see him." Sarah began to walk around the guard towards the OR door again. He attempted to stop her by grabbing her arm. Sarah's momentum caused her to swing around to face the guard when he grabbed her. This time Sarah did not hesitate unleashing a right cross to the man's jaw that knocked the large man clean to the floor. She then turned and continued quickly through the doors with Casey following a few steps behind. He made sure to stay out of her way for his own safety.

None of the people standing outside the OR doors had initially noticed that the male nurse they had been speaking with had a worried look on his face when Sarah had rushed into the OR. As she did so, he had started to walk in the opposite direction rather quickly. Patty had been quietly standing near the rear of the group, closer to the hallway leading to the elevators. She felt horribly for Dr. Bartowski. She had always liked her, as well as Dr. Woodcomb. She was the only one to notice the nurse leaving. "Excuse me, but where is Dr. Williams? After all, you would think he would have the decency to talk to the family himself." Patty asked the nurse as he walked towards her. The male nurse did not answer Patty's question though he had started to pick up his pace. Patty stepped into his path, determined to get an answer to her question. "I asked you where…" The male nurse shoved Patty to the ground and broke into a run down the hallway leading towards the elevator.

Patty's first question of the nurse had gotten both Ellie's and Devon's attention. They had both turned to see what was going on, just as the man shoved Patty to the ground. As the man ran away Ellie screamed for the man to stop as she ran to check on Patty. Devon had reacted instinctively as well, taking chase after the man. The nurse was quick but he was not able to outrun Devon for long. After all, Captain Awesome was a superior athlete. Devon had caught the man just before he reached the elevators, tackling him from behind. The momentum of the tackle carried the two men into a vending machine, the two men and the vending machine all being knocked to the ground. The impact had separated the two men allowing the nurse to stand.

As Devon got to his feet, he looked at the nurse standing in a defensive position, "I don't know what is going on here, but I think you have some answering to do." The man's only reply was to attack Devon with a series of punches. The man was obviously trained in hand to hand combat. The speed of his blows initially caught Devon off guard, allowing a few of the blows to hit their mark. Though stunned, Devon was able to recover quickly. He retaliated with a few shots of his own. One of which struck the man in the left side of his rib cage, knocking the wind out of him. Devon seized this opportunity to wrestle the man to the ground. Being a former all-state wrestler in high school meant that Devon easily had the upper hand, once the man was in his grasp. Within in seconds Devon had the man completely in his control. That is until the elevator dinged and opened immediately behind the scuffling men. Devon never saw the blow coming, as another man had exited the elevator and pistol whipped him in the back of the head. The male nurse pushed Devon's unconscious body off of him and climbed into the elevator. "Thank you Sir," the man said as he slowly stood to his full height. The elevator doors had almost closed when Director Graham replied with a simple "You're welcome."

_A/N Tshadow thanks for the beta and the much needed help. The flow of this chapter just never felt right to me, but I just could not really figure it out. I hope that everything makes sense to you, and to help it along I promise that I will be posting a chapter a day for a couple days. The next few chapters are already done and flow much more easily I think and they may help solve any remaining issues with this one. If you have any other suggestions or questions please let me know. Thanks _

_Btw I have noticed that everyone is saying that they don't own Chuck. I was going to keep it a secret but I actually do own Chuck. You see the unbelievably intelligent people at NBC traded Chuck to me for two sticks of gum, a tennis ball, and six dollars and seventy two cents. Just playin!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Sarah was frantic as she ran through the OR doors and down the hallway. She went from room to room entering any and every unlocked door looking for Chuck, though Casey had been able to keep her from interrupting two surgeries that were currently underway. Finally becoming frustrated she stopped a nurse and asked her, "Where is Chuck Bartowski's…" She could not finish. She could bring herself to ask where his body was. Casey jumped in for her. "Where can we find Chuck Bartowski's body?"

The nurse, though taken aback, told them that Chuck had been in a room at the end of the hall around the corner. "His body should still be in that room."

Sarah ran to the room pushing the door open violently. There appeared to only be one bed in the room, though it was sectioned off from the rest of the room by a curtain. She walked over and placed her hand on the curtain hesitating for a moment before pulling the curtain to the side. She felt a wave of relief hit her as she peered at the empty bed. "He isn't here," she turned and told Casey with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Casey had heard the change in Sarah's tone and it pained him. He knew that she was in denial at the moment and that she was merely setting herself up for a bigger let down later. "Sarah, they may have moved his body to the morgue."

"No John. Something about this whole situation is not kosher. I know it."

"Sarah, I don't want it to be true any more than you do but Chuck is…"

"Don't say it…I know that I have no really proof to believe so, but I know that Chuck is alive. This is more than me just not wanting him to be gone. There is something else going on here. Think about it. Everyone kept saying that Chuck was going to be fine. The tests that they were performing were just precautionary. Then the doctor taking care of him kicks everyone that knows him out, and suddenly he is dead. Maybe this Dr. Williams worked for Masterson and now they have Chuck. What better cover for taking him than everyone thinking he is dead."

Casey had to admit that Sarah was not acting emotionally, and she seemed to be thinking fairly clearly. It was possible that Masterson could get some men into the hospital, and it would be a good plan to take Chuck. Casey was starting to feel some hope himself, but decided that even if there was a chance that Chuck was alive he did not want to get Sarah's hopes any further than she already had. "Alright, I will go check the morgue. You go talk to the nurse to make sure she gave us the right room. Then go talk to the guy that came with Dr. Williams. I will meet you in the waiting room on this floor no matter what we find."

Sarah knew that he had meant whether or not Chuck's body was in the morgue. "Okay, I will meet you there either way."

Sarah had found nurse who had directed her to the room where Chuck had been. She spoke to the woman for a few minutes confirming that Chuck Bartowski, tall thin crazy hair with life threatening brain condition, was in fact in the room she had just checked. The nurse knew for sure as it was rather unusual. The doctor that was in the room was not someone she had ever seen before, and he had refused to let anyone from the staff into the room. This further fueled Sarah's suspicions. She thanked the lady and proceeded back out to the waiting room.

Sarah was surprised at the scene in the waiting room. Ellie and Devon were sitting face to face with Ellie shining a small light into Devon's eyes. Patty was sitting in a chair near by holding an ice pack on her head. "What happened out here?" Sarah asked.

"We are not really sure." Ellie answered tears still rolling down her cheeks. "The guy that told us about Chuck took off when you went into the OR. He shoved Patty down and went running for the elevator. Devon tackled him to find out what was going on, but someone hit him in the back of the head helping the man get away. Devon was completely out for a minute or so." The confusion on Ellie's face only grew as she saw Sarah smile slightly.

Sarah didn't take the time to explain as she pulled out her cell phone and called Casey. He had just reached the morgue. "This is Casey," he said as he answered his phone. Sarah on the other end of the line explained what Ellie had just told her. "Wait a second the nurse guy took off. Devon tackled him, but someone knocked him out. Well Walker, It looks like something is going on here. I don't know what yet, but we are damn sure going to find out." With a renewed energy Casey shoved the door to the morgue open revealing a large room containing a few metal tables and a few bodies, as well as a man lying on the floor groaning as he rubbed his head. Casey ran over to him and helped the man to his feet. "What happened here?" Casey asked the man.

"Some guys jumped me. I think they were here for one of the bodies." The man's voice was a little groggy.

"Let me guess, Chuck Bartowski."

"Yeah how did you know that?" The man looked at Casey shocked.

"Lucky guess. What makes you think they were after his body?"

"Well they came in and asked for it." The man scoffed. "I told them that I had not received it yet. Just then the door opened and in walks a doctor and a male nurse that I have never met. They seemed to know the other two guys that were here." The man stopped and looked at Casey who made a hand gesture for the man to continue with his story. "Well, they tried to feed me some line about the body being donated to science and it being imperative that they take the body as soon as possible. I told them that I needed to see the proper paperwork before I could let them leave with a body. The doctor actually had the paperwork so I was about to let the go but then the strangest thing happened."

"What was that?" Casey asked.

"The damn dead guy moved. At first I wasn't sure that I really saw him move but then he moaned and moved again. That's when one of the guys hit me and that is all I remember."

Casey smiled as he thanked the man and left the room. He had thought about calling Walker to tell her the news but decided that he would rather see her face when he told her that Chuck was alive.

---

Chuck slowly started to wake as he stirred in his bed. He had been having the craziest dream. He was having fun on the beach, then he was nearly dead, then he was okay again, only to wake up dead in a morgue complete with toe tag. _Whoa! That was nuts_. Chuck's eyes had started to come into focus as he looked around. Chuck was lying in a hospital bed in an unfamiliar room. The room was white with no windows or decorations. "Where in the…"

"Good morning Mr. Bartowski." A voice interrupted Chuck thoughts. The voice came from a man sitting in a chair to Chuck's right.

Initially Chuck had started to freak at not knowing where he was, though he relaxed somewhat when he realized that the voice that had startled him had come from a familiar face.

"Good morning Director." Though Chuck was had slightly relaxed he remained quite confused. "Where are we? Where are Sarah and Casey?"

"We are in a safe government facility. When we found out that the cover of you at least one of your handlers had been compromised we decided that it was in your best interest to be brought here." The man replied calmly.

"Whose cover was compromised?"

"Agent Walker's cover is believed to have been compromised when she was captured," the director did not give any further explanation.

"Was Casey able to save her? I remember giving him an address to check out before I blacked out."

Graham looked displeased, "Yes, he was able to free both agent Walker and agent Larkin."

Chuck had noticed the lack of enthusiasm in the director's response. "That is a good thing. Isn't it?"

"Though we are pleased that they were able to escape, both agent Casey and agent Walker have failed to follow protocol as well as disobeyed orders over the past few days. There will be serious consequences for their actions, but that is no longer your concern." Graham's nostrils flared in anger as he spoke.

"What do you mean that it is no longer my concern?" The truth of the situation hit Chuck as if someone had kicked him squarely in the stomach. "Wait…No this can't be." Chuck frantically looked around his room once more. "So you finally got your wish then, chuck looked at the director. "I am in some kind of underground bunker, aren't I?"

"Agents Walker and Casey are no longer your handlers and are therefore no longer your concern. And as I have already said, it was in your best interest that we take you to a secure government facility. It just so happens that this particular facility is underground."

"So the answer would be yes then. Wouldn't it have just been easier to say yes?" Chuck's tone had risen as the initial shock of his situation had turned to anger.

"If you would like me to be more direct I will be happy to oblige you," Graham's temper also on the rise.

"Well that would be a first! You and the General have done nothing but jerk me around since day one even though I have always done whatever was asked of me. Oh and what thanks do I get? Let's see. I get to lie to everyone that I care about, constantly have my life hang in the balance, and have to sacrifice any chance at all of having a normal life. Oh and now the capper. I get to spend the rest of my life in a damn ant farm underground like one for your little pets." Chuck had sat completely up in his bed and would have stood had the wires and tubes attached to various parts of his body allowed him to do so.

As Chuck's anger grew to a boiling point an alarm started sounding on the monitor next to his bed, drawing both his and Graham's attention. A few short seconds later a nurse followed by doctor Williams came rushing into the room.

The nurse looked at the monitor, "His BP is dangerously high."

"I don't know what was going on in here but we need Mr. Bartowski to calm down immediately before one of the blood vessels in his head ruptures." Dr. Williams was looking at Graham as he spoke. "It may be best if you come back after he has a chance to cool down."

Graham did not speak as he turned and walked out the door, the scowl he was wearing never changing. As soon as the door shut Dr. Williams turned to Chuck, "I need you to take slow deep breaths for me, in through the nose out through the mouth." His voice was friendly and calming, but Chuck was not ready to be cooperative.

"It is not that easy to calm down when you just found out that you will never see anyone you care about ever again."

"I know this is difficult for you, and I don't blame you for being upset. However your health is in danger. I don't want to risk giving you another sedative after all you have been through. So please try." Again the doctor maintained a calm and friendly tone.

"I would rather not go back under myself. It seems like every time I go to sleep lately I wake up with things only getting worse." Chuck took a couple of deep breaths then continued, "First I wake up in the hospital with an aneurysm. Then I wake up in the morgue, very creepy by the way. And finally I wake up here. The next step may just be the depths of hell itself." Chuck continued with his breaths as he slowly calmed down.

"I would have to say that being here would be better than being in a morgue." The doctor smiled at Chuck.

Chuck looked at him with a very serious expression, "I would rather be dead."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Sarah had been pacing back and forth in the waiting room anticipating what news Casey would bring from the morgue. She had the feeling that Chuck was alive and that something shady was going on, but the longer she waited for Casey to return the more she worried that she could be mistaken. Ellie and Devon's altercation had confirmed her suspicions that all was not as it seems, but that could mean that someone had merely infiltrated the hospital to kill Chuck. If so then his body would have be in the morgue. _Is that what is taking Casey so long? He doesn't want to come back and tell me that he found Chuck's body. I should have been the one to go to the morgue damn it. I would have been back ages ago._ Truth be told, she had only waited a few minutes. It had just felt like an eternity to her. In the meantime Casey had made his way straight back to the waiting room immediately following speaking to the guy in the morgue.

---

Casey had only taken one step into the waiting room before Sarah started in on him. "What took so long? There was no body was there?" The confidence in her voice wavered as she continued. "Casey, tell me Chuck is not dead."

"What...Chuck isn't dead? What are you talking about?" Ellie asked raising her tear stained face from Devon's shoulder. Sarah had forgotten that though Patty had been taken by hospital staff to be checked out, Ellie and Devon were still sitting in the room. Sarah glanced at Ellie and then back to Casey. They would have to deal with Ellie in a minute, but for now she needed answers.

Casey took a breath to think of how he should word what he was about to say. "It turns out that Chuck may not be dead after all." Both the women in the room gasped. Sarah followed hers with a smile and a few soft sobs as relief set in.

Ellie had stood from her seat with pure confusion on her face. "But they said…Why would they say…"

Casey interrupted her and continued, "Chuck has been abducted. The doctor faked Chuck's death so that they could have a head start once they took him." Sarah's smile faded. She had been hoping that this was the case and that Chuck was not already dead, however it also means that he is not out of the woods yet.

"Abducted! Chuck was abducted! But why?" Ellie was quickly beginning to lose it.

Casey looked at Sarah knowing that this was going to be difficult to explain. Immediately he tried to think of some kind of cover, but as he looked at Ellie and back to his partner he knew that Sarah had something else in mind.

Sarah turned "Ellie I think there are some things you need to know."

---

Chuck had eventually been able to calm down enough that the alarm coming from the monitor next to his bed ceased. "So why is it such as big deal for me to not to get angry? I am not going to go all Incredible Hulk now am I?" Chuck as Dr. Williams who had taken a seat next to Chuck's bed.

The doctor chuckled, "No, at least I hope not. It is not really the anger so much as the increase in your blood pressure. Right now the blood vessels in your head are very weak so anything that would cause an increase in the amount of pressure inside them could be very dangerous to your health." Dr. Williams seemed to show genuine concern as he spoke to Chuck.

"Why are my blood vessels so weak? I mean I have been pretty pissed in the past and never had a blow out."

"You blood pressure must have been through the roof when you were given the drugs on the beach. It was probably sometime after they had taken affect that the vessels were damaged."

"Could this affect my…memory at all?" Chuck was hesitant as he asked this.

Dr. Williams smiled, "That depends. Your short term and long term memory should be fine, but if it is the intersect you are asking about." The doctor paused and smiled at Chuck. "We will have to be careful for a short time just to give your body a chance to heal."

"So you know then?" Chuck asked.

"Oh yes. I am actually in charge of the research program trying to both understand how it is that you do what you do, as well as finding someone else who can do the same."

"Really? Is there anything that you can tell me about how this thing works?"

"Ha, I was going to ask you the same thing. It seems that you are quite special Mr. Bartowski. We have determined very little about how the human intersect, your brain, works." The doctor noticed a worried look on Chuck's face. "Don't worry, we do not plan to cut open your head to find out either."

Chuck smiled in response. "Thanks I appreciate that. You also said that you were looking for someone else who could do what I do."

"Yes, but again you seem to be very special. We have only ever found a few people that could partially absorb the embedded information; no where near as much as you can."

"Well, what have you been able to learn? I don't mean to be pushy. I just hate not knowing what is going on inside my own head." Chuck's voice was apologetic.

Again the doctor merely smiled, "Don't worry. I don't blame you for wanting to know more. I can say that it is fortunate that we have been able to learn a few things. One thing which has helped you already, for example, is the effect of stimulants on the brain while going through and shortly following flashes. In the course of trying to increase the mental absorption of some of our subjects we gave them some stimulants. Unfortunately, there were some poor results. Their abilities were not improved and a few ended up dying due to ruptured vessels in their brains." The doctor seemed to be hurt as he said this. "I hated losing those men. I was against the tests the entire time, but Graham forced them through."

Chuck felt sorry for the doctor and could tell that he felt responsible for the death of those men. "I am sorry to hear that."

"I decided to look at it as if I would just need to take what we learned and save someone else down the line. Turns out I was right. You see, we now know that stimulants combined with flashes are enough to rupture vessels. We also know that the vessels in your brain are able to heal enough that flashing no longer poses any danger to the subject, but only if the vessels are given adequate time to heal. The subjects we were working with never had full flashes as the ones you go through have been described to me, but I believe the same can be said for you. That is how we knew that we needed to lower your blood pressure."

"Or else kablooey!" Chuck added. The doctor chuckled and nodded in response

Chuck was surprised. He had just learned more about the effects of the intersect on his brain in a few seconds than he had in the past year. "I appreciate your help doc."

"Ah, no problem. I tell you what. I think we ought to let you rest a while, but I promise to come back a little later. And if you are up to it, we can swap info. You can tell me what the flashes are like, and I will tell you all I have learned about how the intersect works."

"Deal." Chuck smiled.

---

Sarah walked over to where Ellie and Devon were now standing. Maybe we should sit down for this, Sarah pointed to the chairs. Ellie and Devon sat side by side while Casey and Sarah sat facing them. Sarah slid her chair a little closer to the opposing couple before speaking. I don't know how to tell you this."

"Let's start with whether or not Chuck is alive." Ellie was not angry though her confusion and anxiety caused her words to sound short.

Sarah looked at Casey for reassurance. He nodded for her to continue. "He is alive." Ellie let out a very large sigh and smiled. Sarah felt a smile overtake her face as well. "As far as we know he is okay but he was taken by the man you spoke with earlier, believing him to be Dr. Williams."

"That is twice now you have said that Chuck was abducted. Why would anyone take Chuck?"

"Well…Let me start by saying that everything I say hear can never be repeated. I do mean never. Chuck's life as well as both John's and mine depend on you never telling anyone what you are about to hear."

Ellie and Devon were more confused than ever but both nodded in agreement allowing Sarah to continue. "John and I work for the government. We are both covert operatives."

"You're spies?" Devon asked in awe. "That is awesome."

"Yes we are. Our primary assignment as long as you have known us has been to protect Chuck."

Ellie shook her head, "Again why would Chuck need the protection of two spies?"

"I won't go into the whole story right now but the gist is that Chuck accidentally had government secrets downloaded into his brain. He has been using these secrets to help us defend our nation's security."

"Whoa. Way to go Chuck." Devon airily said.

"Assuming we skip how these secrets got into Chuck's head, which we will be coming back to by the way, what do you mean he has been helping defend our nation's security? How exactly does Chuck help?" The protective older sister in Ellie was beginning to show.

"Well, Chuck is able to find patterns in the information that he has stored in his brain. He then uses these patterns to help us figure out who is a threat and what they are planning. Once he makes the connections we then stop them." Sarah motioned at Casey and herself as she said this.

"So Chuck isn't really out there fighting bad guys then?" Ellie seemed to relax a little.

"Not if we could ever get him to stay in the damn car." Casey grumbled. His comment seemed to worry Ellie as she looked at Sarah for further explanation.

Sarah threw a sharp glance at Casey before looking at Ellie to explain. "Chuck's job on missions is usually to stay in the van and perform surveillance. Occasionally…" Sarah paused temporarily as Casey coughed suggestively, "ok then, more often than we would like, Chuck leaves the van getting himself into trouble."

"Why would he do that?" Ellie asked incredulously.

"Let's just say that our boy Chuck has a lot in common with a love sick puppy." Casey chuckled.

Sarah, ignoring Casey, explained, "I don't think you know just how brave Chuck is. If he thinks that someone he cares about is in trouble he tries to help them, even if he is putting himself in danger by doing so."

Ellie actually broke a small smile, "For some reason that doesn't surprise me one bit. He has always put others first." She said with obvious pride. Sarah smiled and nodded in return. After a second or two, Ellie seemed to have another question, though she hesitated to ask. Instead she looked appraisingly at Sarah, who had guessed what she was thinking.

"You are wondering about our cover, whether we are really dating." Sarah said knowingly to Ellie.

"Don't get me wrong. I love my brother. He is funny, charming, and handsome, but I have to admit I was surprised when I met you. Let's just say you are a class above any other girl he has ever dated. At the time I wasn't sure how he had landed such a catch. Though the more I saw you together, the more I thought I saw something there. I guess that was all just a part of the cover." Ellie shrugged.

"No. Well yes, at first I mean." Sarah was tongue tied.

"Ooo! Ooo! Let me take it from here." Casey was way too eager to jump in. Sarah would have stopped him from saying anything else but he had grabbed the back of her chair and slid it out of the way with her in it.

"It has long been the normal procedure for female agents to use attraction to control men." As Casey said this Ellie uneasily looked at Sarah who only stared at the floor. "So initially Chuck didn't even know what hit him. I am pretty sure that he had fallen for Sarah within the first ten seconds he knew her, all part of agent Walker's plan. However, it has also long been protocol that as an agent you never let your mark get to you, and here is where the plan went south. You see, the two dopes in question refused to admit…Wait that is not right, only one of the dopes refused to admit that she had feelings for the other dope, even though it was clear to everyone around them that she did." As Casey said this he pointed to Ellie. Sarah lifted her head revealing an aggravated glare towards Casey. She had finally had enough of his rendition of the story.

"Chuck and I started out acting as a couple, and yes it is true that he admitted real feelings for me long before I could do the same. I also know that that caused him a lot of pain, but I thought that I would not be able to protect him as well if we were together."

"You said that you started out acting like a couple, does that mean that there has been a change in status?" Ellie's grin was growing.

Sarah smiled and nodded, "After the events at the beach I realized that I was kidding myself and that I would never forgive myself if I lost Chuck because I was too afraid to take a chance. So when he woke up I finally told him that I love him and that I want to be with him."

Ellie actually squealed with excitement causing Devon to grab his ear. "I knew you two were going to end up together." She clapped her hands together and then took a deep breath. "Now that we have that settled, let's get back to the secrets in Chuck's head. I am assuming that they are the reason he was kidnapped. How did he get them there in the first place?"

"It turns out that Chuck has an ability to absorb information far greater than the average person ever could. He received a message that had the secrets embedded in a way that most people would never even know they were there. Chuck's brain absorbed all the information and now whenever he sees or hears something that triggers his mind to recall something in the embedded message he has something like a memory flash through his mind that he can then pass along to us. And you were right about the secrets in Chuck's head being the reason that he was taken. There is an organization called fulcrum that has been trying to find the intersect since it was created. The intersect is the program in Chuck's head. We think that they are the ones that Dr. Williams was working for."

Ellie was not really following Sarah's explanation but decided now was not the time to push the issue. "I think that, for me to understand fully will require more conversation than we have time for right now, so in the meantime why don't we focus on how we are going to get Chuck back from these fulcrum people."

Casey just shook his head. Ellie had just found out that her brother had risen from the dead, was a top secret government asset, and had been living a lie for over a year, and that now he had been abducted by a terrorist organization. Yet, she was doing remarkably well. In fact she was now talking about rescuing Chuck as though it were just another thing on the to do list. It reminded him of the first night he knew Chuck when they were forced to diffuse the bomb_. The Bartowski family can be pretty impressive_, Casey thought as he chuckled to himself.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I appreciate the reviews. I am sorry that I have slowed down posting. I hope to have a chapter every couple days this week, but we will have to see. I also really want to thank everyone again for the kind words about becoming a dad and just being such an accepting group. You all make this a lot of fun. Thanks.

Chapter 9

"So how do we get my brother back?" Ellie asked as she looked from Sarah to Casey. The two agents had just finished spilling the beans, so to speak, about their "other' jobs, as well as why someone would want to abduct Chuck.

"First things first, we need to contact our bosses in Washington." Casey did not look pleased as he said this. "They are not going to be happy with us right now, but they may have some information that could help us find Chuck."

"Do we just give them a call, or what? How does this whole spy thing work?" Devon was getting excited as he asked.

"We don't do anything." Casey responded. "You two are going to go home while Agent Walker and I go to my apartment to contact Washington."

"Remember you are not supposed to know anything about Chuck working for the government," Sarah added with a slightly softer tone than Casey had used.

"I don't think I can just sit around and do nothing when I know that Chuck is in trouble." Ellie argued.

Casey rolled his eyes, "Somehow this sounds so very familiar, must be encoded in the Bartowski genes."

Sarah looked into Ellie's eyes and spoke softly yet in a serious tone. "Ellie I know how hard this is on you, but I need you to trust me. We are the best at what we do. However, we will not be able to focus on saving Chuck if we need to keep an eye on you as well. That is why we really need you and Devon to go home and lay low for a while. I promise you that I will do everything I can to bring Chuck home safely."

Ellie merely nodded in response for some reason believing her as well as understanding that Sarah was probably the only person in the world that cared about Chuck's safety as much as she did.

"Okay then we should get going." Sarah continued. "We will follow you to your place just to be safe, though I don't think you will have anything to worry about. We have had the apartment under surveillance for quite some time. You two should be safe there until we find out a little more about what is going on."

---

Chuck had been unable to fall asleep once Dr. Williams had left his room. Chuck was not joking when he voiced his concern about every time he woke up his situation had gotten worse. Instead of falling asleep and taking any chances, Chuck had just lied in bed looking at the ceiling. His thoughts focused on the people he cared most about. He thought about Ellie and Morgan, and how supportive they had always been. He thought about Devon and the way he really did treat Chuck like a little brother. He thought about the nerd herders. Even though they caused a majority of the grief in his life, at least prior to becoming the intersect, they also provided most of the comic relief in his life as well. He thought about Casey, and how every once in a while he would show his human side and be a really good friend. And of course he thought about Sarah. He could picture every detail of her face, every speck of blue in her eyes, every little way she moved. Even though she had refused to let him in for so long, he was confident that he knew her as well as anyone else ever had, if not better. He could tell if she was having a bad day the instant he saw her, and he usually knew how to make her feel better even faster. He had taken every opportunity to learn her mannerisms just so he could be there for her the way she so desperately needed someone to be, even if she didn't even know it yet. And now lying in this bed Chuck felt like Fate's fool. She had finally given in to her feelings and confessed her love for him, and now he may never see her again. As a new wave of self-pity was just about to set in, Chuck slammed his fist down on the bed next to him. _I am tired of having things happen TO me, feeling like I have no control over anything in my life. Well not this time._ A new resolve built inside of Chuck. I am not going to just lay her and take this. _I will get out of here and I will see my friends and family again._ The new resolve faltered slightly as Chuck began to think about the likelihood that he could escape unaided from a government facility_. I won't be alone. Sarah will not give up on me. In fact that must be why Graham is here himself. He knows she is going to come for me._ Chuck smiled to himself, as the self pity faded. It was replaced now with a purpose. He was going to get out of this ant farm, as he called it. He would be with the people he cared about again.

---

Casey and Sarah had followed Ellie and Devon to Casa Bartowski. Casey then did a sweep of the apartment before allowing the two doctors to enter. "You two stay here. I will come and let you know if we learn anything from Washington." Sarah instructed Ellie and Devon as she and Casey left for the debriefing.

Once in Casey's apartment the teleconference was ready within a few seconds. On the ride from the hospital the two agents had decided that they would answer any questions truthfully, though they would not volunteer anything they deemed non-relevant without being specifically asked. Their honesty, though it may cause them both some trouble, may prevent any unnecessary wasted time.

As the screen came to life the two agents were surprised to see only General Beckman sitting at her desk. "Good morning General." Casey began. "Should we wait for Director Graham before starting?"

"No, the director will be unable to attend this debriefing. He has another matter that he is attending to personally," the general responded.

Sarah looked at Casey and then back at the screen. This was very odd. Anytime there they had ever placed an urgent call to Washington both of their superiors had been present for the debriefing, probably because neither of them trusted the other. Sarah decided now was not the time and pressed on, "General, the reason for our call is that Chuck has been abducted. We believe that he was taken by agent Masterson and his men in order to improve the results of their questioning of agent Larkin and myself."

"Agent Masterson, as well as his remaining men, are already in custody. They were apprehended a short time ago at the location which they had been holding you and agent Larkin. He had returned to the scene unaware that we had already disable his operation." The general looked at Casey as she said this. "The agents that Major Casey had left at the scene were still awaiting a clean-up crew when Masterson and his men arrived, at which time they were able to take him into custody."

"That is great. Did they have Chuck with them?" Sarah made no attempt to hide her excitement.

"Mr. Bartowski was not with the men, nor were they responsible for his abduction," the General said coolly.

"What!" Both Casey and Sarah had said in unison.

"Agent Masterson had returned to his safe house after being unable to locate Mr. Bartowski at his home or at the Buy More. He really does seem to be an incompetent agent."

"Well if he didn't take Bartowski who did?" Casey asked.

The General paused before responding, "All that you need to know is that the intersect is safe and no longer of your concern."

"No longer of our concern! What is that supposed to mean?" Sarah had raised her voice and unknowingly taken a step towards the screen.

"Agent Walker both you and the Major have been reassigned, and as such are no longer responsible for the protection of the intersect."

Casey, showing his own anger for the first time in the conversation, raised his voice as well, "What do you mean we have been reassigned? If we are not going to protect, Chuck who is?"

"As I have already said, THE INTERSECT," the general over-emphasizing her choice of words, "is safe."

Realization set in causing Sarah's temper to completely boil over. "You took him!"

The General did not respond, instead sitting stoned faced behind her desk looking at the two agents.

"You took him to some government facility, didn't you?" Sarah continued in a very aggressive tone.

"The intersect has been placed in a secure location for his own good." The general replied with just a hint of venom in her own voice.

"Why? There was no need. Agent Masterson knew nothing about Chuck being the intersect. There is no immediate threat to Chuck's safety." Sarah face was red with anger as she steadily crept forward while continuing to raise her voice. "He would be better off here with the two of us protecting him and you know it." Sarah was now only a foot from the screen with her voice near a scream.

"Need I remind you that the two of you purposely disobeyed orders, lied to your superiors, and have allowed yourselves to become hopelessly compromised." The general stood from behind her desk.

"We only did what was in Chuck's best interest. Your orders could have cost Chuck his life." Sarah's rage was now to the point that if the General had been in the same room she would have to fear for her life, the glare coming from Sarah conveyed that very message to the General forcing her to subconsciously taken a small step back even though they were separated by thousands of miles.

"It is not for you to decide which orders are to be followed." The General's voice had lost some of its confidence. "You and Major Casey are to be in Washington for your new assignments by o nine hundred tomorrow."

"No," Sarah said in a cold clear tone, her glare unchanging.

"What was that Agent Walker?" The General asked, obviously surprised by Sarah's response.

"I said no." Sarah maintained her deadly tone. "I have always followed orders believing that I was doing what was needed for the greater good. Now I know that sometimes the people giving the orders wouldn't know their ass from a hole in the ground let alone what is best for this country or its citizens."

"Agent Walker your insubordination will not be tolerated…" The General had raised her voice again in anger before being interrupted.

"It is not insubordination. It is my resignation." Sarah finished leaving the other two people in the conversation staring at her. "I trust that you will pass this along to the director." The General was about to respond when Sarah continued, "and one more thing. If one hair on Chuck's head is harmed there will be hell to pay." Sarah ended the conversation by reaching forward and smashing the screen.

Casey stood in silence for a moment, in shock at what he had just witnessed. Sarah had been silent as well, though she was shaking with anger. Finally she turned to Casey, "I will not blame you if you go back to Washington. You have always done well by Chuck and me, but I can't just leave this mission behind."

Casey took a second before finding any words, "What are you going to do?"

Sarah responded in the most determined tone that Casey had ever heard from her, "The only thing I can do, I am going to get Chuck back."


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry it took forever to continue the story. I don't own anything other than the world's greatest dog, but definitely not Chuck. Please let me know what you think. This chapter doesn't have much action but there should be some coming soon.

Chapter 10

Sarah did not knock on the door before she entered Casa Bartowski. Ellie and Devon were sitting at the table each with a cup of coffee in hand. Both were startled when the door suddenly swung open revealing the tall blond agent. The look on Sarah's face did nothing to ease their concerns.

"Sarah what's wrong?" Ellie asked as she subconsciously held her breath fearing the worst.

"I…I can't really say." Sarah had started pacing back and forth maintaining the fierce expression. "I can say that Chuck's life is not in any immediate danger."

"That is great!" Devon exclaimed. Though when he noticed Sarah's disposition had not changed, he added, "Isn't it?"

"Yes…it is great that Chuck is not in any danger, but it's…complicated." Sarah had stopped pacing though she still looked angry.

"You know, I am getting tired of hearing that from you and from Chuck. What makes this so complicated?" Ellie had stood from her chair and slowly moved towards Sarah.

Sarah paused as she looked at both Ellie and Devon. "Ah screw it. I don't work for them anymore anyway." Sarah thought out loud. "Chuck was not taken by Fulcrum. He was taken to a secure government facility, supposedly for his own protection."

"I am still not seeing the problem. That sounds like a good thing. At least Chuck is safe." Ellie smiled to Devon as she spoke. "When can we go see him?" She asked as she took another step in Sarah's direction.

"You don't understand. The facility that he was taken to is a top secret secure facility that Chuck will never be allowed to leave, and they don't exactly allow visitors." Sarah's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Ellie as she continued in a much softer tone. "Ellie we may never see Chuck again."

"No, that can't be right. I thought Chuck was helping the government. Who would lock away someone that had been helping them?" Ellie had started crying.

"The CIA would," Sarah's voice was barely more than a whisper.

"What?" Ellie screamed, "I thought you worked for the CIA."

"I do or at least I did." Sarah flopped into a chair at the table hanging her head.

"What do you mean you did?" Devon reached over and placed his hand on Sarah's shoulder reassuringly.

"I just resigned. They wanted to reassign me which would take me away from Chuck and you guys. I could not handle the thought of never seeing Chuck or losing…this. So I refused and told them that I quit." Sarah did not lift her head as she responded.

Ellie looked at Devon with a shocked expression on her face then looked back at Sarah. "You did that for Chuck?"

Sarah nodded though she continued to stare at the floor. "I love Chuck and this is the closest I have ever come to feeling like I have a real family. I couldn't just let that go now." Devon and Ellie both smiled at Sarah who briefly smiled before her expression turned much more solemn. I am so sorry Ellie. I should have never let this happen. I should have been there to protect Chuck. It's my fault that you will never see your brother again." Sarah's shoulders began to shake as she had started to quietly sob.

Ellie quickly closed the last remaining distance between her and the chair that Sarah was sitting in. She knelt on one knee and leaned in to look Sarah's down cast face. "First of all I will see Chuck again and so will you. Second, don't ever let me hear you say anything like that again." Sarah quickly turned her head to face Ellie. "Sarah none of this is your fault. I have seen the way you look at my brother when you think nobody is looking, or when he first walks into a room. I also remember the way you held Chuck when we were rushing him to the hospital from the beach. I have known for quite sometime how much you care about Chuck, and I also know that there is nothing that you wouldn't do to protect him. There was nothing you could do to change what has happened, NOTHING."

Ellie leaned in and hugged Sarah then pulled back to look her in the face when she heard Sarah start to speak.

"Thank you Ellie. I meant it when I said that you and Chuck are the closest thing to a family that I have had in a long time." Sarah smiled as she heard Devon clear his throat, "and Devon too, of course. I was just afraid that you would blame me or hate me for what has happened."

"Sarah we really do see you as one of the family, and I don't think we could ever hate you." Ellie said as Devon nodded in agreement.

"Thank you both…," Sarah paused for a second. "In some ways that makes what I have to say next both easier and harder." Sarah's grin faded. "I have to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? Why do you have to say goodbye? You just said that you refused to be reassigned." Ellie was becoming worked up again.

"I did, but I need to fix this. I can't tell you where I am going or what I am going to do specifically, but I can't live without Chuck. I have to try to get him back."

"Then we will go with you," Ellie began with Devon adding, "we can help you get him back."

"No." Sarah's expression became very serious. "What I am going to be doing is very dangerous. There is a very good chance that I will not make it through this alive. I can not have any more of the people I care about getting hurt."

Ellie had opened her mouth to argue but Sarah interrupted her. "I know that you want to help, but it will be a lot better if I do this alone, especially for Chuck. I stand a much better chance of rescuing him if I don't have to protect anyone else."

Ellie started to speak again, but this time stopped her self. There was really nothing she could say. She knew that there wasn't much she could do to help Sarah save Chuck. After all Sarah was a world class spy. Finally after sitting in silence for a minute, she was able to speak, "Alright, I will agree to stay out of the way on two conditions."

"What would they be?" Sarah hesitantly asked.

"First you have to keep us informed as to what is going on. I will go crazy if we have to sit here not knowing what is going on."

"Fair enough. And second?" Sarah asked.

"You need to take care of yourself. Do what ever you can to bring Chuck back to us, but come back yourself as well. We don't want to lose you either." Ellie's eyes were warm and sincere.

Ellie's concern for her made Sarah smile. "I will do my best."

---

Sarah headed to her hotel room after staying with Ellie and Devon for a short time. Before leaving she had established an encoded means of communicating with Ellie, said her goodbyes, and shared some hugs.

It only took Sarah a few minutes to gather up everything she may need which included every weapon she owned, a large amount of cash, and numerous forms of identification for both her and Chuck. She had most of everything else she would need already packed in an emergency bag in her closet. As she prepared to leave, Sarah looked around the room one last time. This room had been far from the most extravagant cover home she had used, but it held more happy memories than any "home" she had ever known, CIA cover or not. Now looking around the small room Sarah knew she would never be returning. Even if she were successful in freeing Chuck they would more than likely have to go off the grid. She sighed knowing that the life that she had come to love was going to be drastically different no matter what the outcome of this, her most important mission.

Once she had all of her things together Sarah headed over to Casey's apartment. She was uncertain what the Major had planned on doing. She couldn't blame him if he did go back to Washington as he had been ordered to. He had known nothing but the government assigned life for even longer than she had. He was a good partner to her and a good friend to Chuck, but she would not be surprised if he had forgotten how to live as anything other than a government agent. Hell, she had nearly forgotten herself until Chuck had reminded her what life could really be. And even though she knew Chuck had had an impact on Casey, she just wasn't sure to what extent. Shaking her self from her thoughts Sarah knocked on Casey's door.

---

Dr. Williams returned to Chuck's room a few hours later that day bearing gifts. "I know that you are probably going mad in here so I brought you some things to keep you occupied." He showed Chuck a stack of movies. "I have been assured that there are no images in these movies that will trigger a flash."

"Sweet! What all do you have?" Chuck began excitedly flipping through the pile, only to quickly lose his enthusiasm. "You're kidding me right?"

"What?"

"You don't mess with the Zohan, House Party 4, oh and Spy Kids…This not exactly the apex in cinematography." Chuck smirked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"These are the only movies that we had available. I will try to pick up some more for you on my way in tomorrow. In the meantime, you may be more interested in this. Dr. Williams handed Chuck Call of duty. "I think this may be more up you alley."

Chuck laughed and slyly smiled, "Dude, don't mess with my head like that. Remember, my head is very valuable."

Dr. Williams smiled in return before ordering a nurse to bring in a cart containing an XBOX 360. "I would love to stay and challenge you to a game, but I have patients to see and my son tells me that I am hopeless when it comes to video games anyway."

"Ah, I would take it easy on ya." Chuck smiled, "Thanks. I really appreciate all that you have done for me."

"Don't mention it. Everyone needs a friend every now and then."

As Dr. Williams turned to leave Chuck's room Director Graham walked away from the small window in the door to Chuck's room through which he had been watching the two converse. His expression was none too pleased as he quickly moved away to avoid being seen.

---

Sarah had knocked on Casey's door three times without an answer. Her heart began to sink as Casey had always answered the door on the first knock if not sooner when he was home. She reached down and turned the door knob. The door was unlocked and freely swung open revealing the inside of the apartment which had been stripped. It actually appeared as if it had been vacant for months. There were many things about the NSA that did not impress Sarah, but the cleanup crews were never one of them. Sarah sighed and walked toward the door knowing she would be going after Chuck alone, and although she could understand why Casey had left, Sarah couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She knew that she could have really used some help, and over the past year she had come to enjoy the feeling that Casey had her back. But that would not be the case this time because Casey was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: I would say that I am sorry for disappearing for so long and not updating, but I know that is just not good enough. The plan is to have a couple chapters over the next week or so. I hope to conclude fatal flash in the next week or two. Thanks for the messages encouraging me to get my act together. _

Chapter 11

Three days later…

Chuck had been playing games and watching movies for the past few days, usually with either Dr. Williams or one of the nurses that were in charge of his care. Not surprisingly, it had not taken long for the staff of the CIA facility to grow quite fond of Chuck, and nearly all were on a first name basis after only few days. What the staff had failed to realize was that Chuck was not only learning their names and what their kids were up to in school, but he was also learning every detail of their routines. Chuck learned when each guard would make their rounds as well as when their shifts ended. On one occasion he was even able to watch a nurse type in the code to unlock his door. She had been a little careless as she was batting her lashes at Chuck, having fallen victim to the Bartowski smile. Unfortunately even with all this information he was still nowhere close to finding a way out of the ultra secure CIA building. He may be observant, but a highly trained spy he was not.

Chuck woke on the third morning to the sounds of an argument taking place just outside of his room. He immediately crept over to the entrance of his room in order to find out what was going on. Although he was unable to make out what was being said, he was able to see Dr. Williams in a heated exchange with Director Graham through the small window in his door. The exchange finally came to and end when Graham turned and stormed down the hall leading away from Chuck's room. Dr. Williams, who had remained outside the door shaking his head, turned and gave a half smile to Chuck, apparently aware that he had been watching the whole time. Chuck took a step back as Dr. Williams entered his room.

"What was all that about?" Chuck asked, having become quite comfortable talking to the doctor over the past few days.

"I am sorry that you had to see that. I hope we didn't wake you."

"Actually I was hoping to get an early start to my day. I have a lot of boredom to fit into my schedule today." Chuck smiled as he joked with the doctor. "No harm done. What had the director so upset?"

"Oh, it was nothing really. Nothing for you to worry about anyway."

"I don't know. It seemed as if it had something to do with me, and if that is the case I have a right to know."

The doctor stared into Chuck's eyes for a few seconds before nodding to himself. "Actually you're right. It did have to do with you, and you really should know what is going on." The doctor led Chuck further into the room away from the door. "Chuck, we were arguing about you. The director has some important information that he wants your special help with, but I told him that you are just not ready yet. You have healed really well as far as we can tell, but I feel you still need a little more time before we can be sure that flashing is truly safe. As you could see that is not exactly what the director wanted to hear. He got angry and started questioning the amount of time that I and the rest of the staff have been spending with you. He said something about you having a tendency of compromising agents."

Chuck couldn't help the grin that came to his face. The mere mention of how he and Sarah had become so close over their time together instantly warmed his heart. Dr. Williams noticed the smile, "Anything you would like to share Chuck?"

"What? Um no. I was just thinking that he is probably just jealous, since he has the people skills of a constipated badger."

"You are probably right. You shouldn't have any other problems tonight as the badger has gone home for the night," the doctor chuckled and turned towards the door. "Even so, you need to watch out for yourself Chuck. Not everyone here has your best interest in mind."

"I will," Chuck said as he sat on the bed and turned on the tv, only to turn to the doctor as he was about to close the door, "Oh and Doc…Thanks." Dr. Williams paused for a second and merely nodded before leaving Chuck to himself.

---

Sarah had made the drive to Washington in a time that would have won any Cannonball Run. Of course using night vision goggles and driving without her headlights on made her excessive speed a lot harder for the local authorities to notice.

She had spent a couple days looking for any leads as to where they were keeping Chuck. She had a few contacts that she trusted, but no one had heard a thing. Her last plan of action led her to the street next to Director Graham's rather large home just outside of D.C. She had figured since no one in the CIA had heard anything about Chuck or the intersect, that Graham must be handling this personally. That would also explain his absence from the last teleconference.

"He _must have no idea who he can trust with knowledge of the human intersect. Of course he wouldn't have had to worry about that if he wouldn't have taken Chuck away from me in the first place_," Sarah thought to herself as her grip on the steering wheel tightened considerably. Originally she had planned on a more direct approach to getting Chuck back. A bust in the front door of the Director's home and pull out his finger nails until he told her where Chuck was kind of approach. Fortunately, she was able to calm herself in the final few hours of her drive. For right now she would be patient, though if she has her way by the time this is all over, the director will have no need for a manicure anytime soon.

She had only been outside of the Director's house for a few hours that morning before she saw some movement coming from the house. The director and a few agents exited the house and entered a black standard government issued SUV. The director had been speaking on his phone and was obviously not happy. Through her long distance surveillance equipment she could hear him saying that he would obtain more information for them to go on one way or another within the next few hours.

"I don't know what you are up to but if you hurt Chuck you are going to need more than a couple babysitters to protect you," Sarah said to herself as she put the car in drive.

---

Sarah was able to tail the SUV unnoticed to what looked like an ordinary dairy farm at least an hour outside of the city. She had taken position on the top of a small hilltop a short distance off. She watched the director enter a silo near the middle of the farm through her binoculars. _That must be the entrance to where they are keeping Chuck_.

---

The door to Chuck's room violently swung open, as director Graham followed closely by an irate Dr. Williams came hastily into the room.

"I told you he is not ready for this." Dr. Williams was screaming at the director.

The director never even glanced at the doctor. "Mr. Bartowski we have been made aware of a very serious threat to the President of the United States of America, and we need your help to stop it."

"You don't have to do it Chuck," the doctor's voice, although not as loud, still contained a definitive edge to it.

Chuck, dumbfounded by the entire scene, sat in his bed speechless. He looked from the director to the doc and the back to the director. "I…I don't know. The doctor said that I need more time to heal."

"Mr. Bartowski I understand that you are not pleased to be here, but it is your duty to…" the director was interrupted by Chuck's aggravated response.

"My duty! My duty! You have got to be kidding me. I did not sign up for this. I never asked for any of this, in fact quite the opposite. But even so I have done everything I could to help the greater good over the last year. And what did that get me; a one way ticket to the underground version of club med from hell. Don't tell me about my duty, because I have already given up more for this country than any of you have had to." Chuck only stopped his rant when he was out of breath.

The beeping of an alarm indicating a dangerous increase in blood pressure got the doctor's attention. "Enough already! If you do this director and you could cause serious harm to the intersect. You could be without an intersect all together if you don't stop right now."

The Director stared coldly at the doctor "In situations like this one must be willing to make sacrifices." He turned his attention to Chuck before saying, "Operation Potestas."

Chuck's eyes glazed over as he grabbed his head. A few seconds into what appeared to be a very painful flash his nose began bleeding. Dr. Williams rushed to Chuck's side and began coaching him to take deep breaths to no avail. Chuck had slumped back into the bed and gone unconscious.

---

Outside Sarah had been acquiring as much intel as she could. She now knew how many men were stationed around the perimeter of the farm. There were at least 10 men at different stations as well as a couple of men on ATV's scattered around the perimeter. As far as she could tell there was no way she could sneak into the main compound without being noticed. She was going to have to find some other way in or think of some sort of diversion without putting the whole place into lockdown.

---

"Damn it! Now look what you have done. The intersect is not worth a damn if Chuck dies." Dr. Williams said as he frantically checked Chuck's vitals.

Graham gave the doctor a long hard look before looking back to Chuck, "Is he going to live?"

"Yes. It looks like he just passed out due to the pain. A normal flash would have been painful in his condition, but it had to be excruciating for him to flash when you already had his blood pressure through the roof." The doctor pulled his stethoscope from his ears and visibly relaxed, turning to look at the director with anger apparent in his expression. "It looks like he is going to be fine…this time."

"I want to know the second he is awake. We need to know what the intersect provided." Graham did not leave a chance for argument as he turned and walked from the room.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thanks for the kind words, reviews are loved of course. I know this chapter is a hair shorter than most of my chapters. I am going to be out of town for a few days and am not sure when I will be able to work on the story so I figured I would post this in the meantime. Of course hopefully next week I will be all re-energized by hearing that there will be a season 3 of Chuck. Here's to hoping.**

**Chapter 12**

A hot dog, agent files for multiple fulcrum agents, the White House, schematics for a bomb, an invitation to a meet the press event later that day, and the hot dog again. Chuck had become accustom to the images flashing through his mind. The searing pain that accompanied this flash, not so much. Chuck would have laid there with his eyes closed until the pain had abated a little more, but the images in his head had shaken him to the core. He knew Fulcrum's plan. As usual the intersect had been able to piece together the information to reveal the who, what, where, when, and how. He had scene a lot of disturbing images since his first flash, but this one was different. He saw a large choir of children singing and happy and then he saw their deaths. There were many other people targeted with the main target being none other than President Obama himself.

Chuck forced his eyes open, only to regret the decision immediately as the bright lights from his room poured into his eyes. The effect was an increase in the throbbing that encompassed his entire head. After allowing his eyes to slowly adjust he looked around the room to see that he was alone. He slowly lifted his head from his pillow and even more slowly sat up in his bed. After waiting a few seconds for the room to stop spinning, he stood and walked over to the door.

"Hello," his hoarse voice did not attract any attention from the passing staff members outside his room. "Hello, Hey! Can someone help me out here?," he tried again this time a little louder while knocking on the window.

A passing nurse noticed him and paged Dr. Williams, who arrived to Chuck's room a few moments later.

"How are you feeling Chuck?" he asked as he opened the door.

"I guess you could say that I have been better," Chuck briefly smiled at the doctor before turning serious again, "but for right now I need to talk to the director."

"Why don't you just sit down and tell me what is going on," Dr. Williams instructed as he tried to lead Chuck back to his bed.

"No time to explain. I appreciate your concern but really I am fine. This can't wait. The president is in some serious trouble."

---

Meanwhile back in Burbank…

The window to Chuck's room slid open as Morgan came climbing in, well not so much climbing in as tripping on the window seal and tumbling head over heels onto Chuck's floor. "You would think that I would have had this down by now," Morgan said to himself as he got to his feet. "Chuck, buddy are you here?" Morgan started to walk down the hallway towards the living room when he heard the muffled sound of someone crying. His interest peaked, he quietly continued into the living room. He could see Ellie sitting on the couch facing away from him. She was softly crying while reading something on her laptop. Once he was close enough to see what she was reading his jaw fell open in shock.

"_Mysterious blond still looking for her tall, shy, and nerdy, though she has a feeling that she is about to find him any time now."_ My god, Ellie was reading the personals of the _Burbank Leader_.

"Ellie is there something you want to talk about?" Morgan asked with knowing concern in his voice.

The sound of a voice directly behind her caused Ellie to jump and scream, "AAAHHH, MORGAN what are you doing here?"

"I came by to see if Chuck was around. He hasn't been answering his phone and I got a little worried." The mention of Chuck's name caused Ellie to sob a little harder. "But let's not worry about that right now. It seems like you need me more than he does right at the moment. So tell me, are things not going so well with the captain?" Morgan slightly tilted his head to the side and nodded to himself.

"What are you talking about?" Ellie asked exasperated as she stood to get some more tissues.

"Ellie, Ellie, Ellie there is nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what is going on here. You are sitting alone crying while reading the personal ads," Morgan picked up the laptop reading the ad a little more closely. "Wait! This add is from a female looking for love. Oh…OOHHH! Well I can say that I didn't see that coming. I have to say that it helps to explain why nothing ever happened between us all those years."

"Trust me Morgan that is not the reason that nothing ever happened between us, and I am not looking for someone else, or…Morgan just get out of here!"

"Ellie we can talk about this, there is no reason to be ashamed, Anna once…"

The rest of Morgan's statement was drowned out as Ellie emphatically interrupted, "MORGAN OUT NOW!"

"Okay but if you ever need to talk, WHACK!" The door slamming in his face effectively ending the conversation.

---

The director was in Chuck's room in the matter of minutes. "Everyone out! What Mr. Bartowski has to tell me is classified above top secret so clear the room." The nurses all started to leave on the director's order, but Dr. Williams did not budge.

"I think it is Mr. Bartowski's best interest that I stay. It seems that every time you two speak his blood pressure becomes dangerously high."

The director paused for a few seconds, "You do not have clearance for the information that is provided by the intersect."

"Let me remind you that if Mr. Bartowski's health were to falter, you would no longer have an intersect. It is my job to make sure that doesn't happen."

The director stood quietly internally debating the matter. Finally coming to a decision, he turned to Chuck. "What have you learned?"

Chuck didn't waste any time. "The president is going to be assassinated today. Fulcrum is going to plant a bomb somewhere at the meet the press event taking place this afternoon at the White House. They are going to be taking out President Obama, as well as the other international leaders present, during the South African children's choir performance. They apparently have something against the President as well as the peace talks taking place. Fulcrum is providing the weapons used in some of the conflicts in Africa for a small fee to finance their operations here. It looks as if they are going to kill the kids to cause enough outrage to permanently break peace talks and eliminate the U.S.'s credibility as mediators." The longer Chuck spoke the more panicked his demeanor became. "We have to do something to stop them."

The director wore an expression of grave concern, "Where is the bomb?"

"I am not sure. It could be anywhere. Casey and Sarah would usually take me to the scene to see if anything caused me to flash."

The director looked at Chuck suspiciously, "And you are sure you aren't just trying to find away to escape, because I assure you. I would find you." The director ended with a very intimidating scowl.

"No, no I am not trying to pull anything. Scouts honor," Chuck finished holding two fingers in the air and giving a nervous smile.

Through the course of the entire conversation Dr. Williams had stared at Chuck in aw. He had never seen what a true flash could do. It was simply amazing. "The intersect gave you all of that?" he asked drawing the attention of the other two men.

"Um, ya. That is kinda how this whole thing works," Chuck shrugged.

"Amazing," Dr. Williams continued to be aw struck.

"Alright Mr. Bartowski, get dressed. But so help me if you try anything…" The director chose to leave his comment unfinished allowing Chuck to image for himself the dire circumstances he would find himself in.

---

Sarah had been outside the complex for most of the morning looking for any indication that she may be able to penetrate the security. At nearly ten o'clock she noticed some commotion coming from the main silo as well as the two building closest to it. It appeared as if an entire convoy of black SUV's were being prepared to move out. As she watched countless agents loading into the vehicles she saw the director bring Chuck out of the silo and place him in the back seat of one of the SUV's. Graham then climbed in next to him, never giving Chuck more than a few feet of distance between them. At seeing Chuck, Sarah's heart leapt. Seeing him alive and well filled her with a sense of relief. Even though the general had assured her that Chuck was safe she could not let go of her concern. Now seeing him with her own two eyes, with the help of high powered magnification, removed much of the weight she had carried on her shoulders for the past few days. As her eyes glistened with tears she smiled to herself, "Hang on Chuck, I am coming."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: another short chapter but I had to get something out on the day Chuck was officially renewed for season 3. Well done all that helped with that effort. I already have the next couple chapters written anyway so that is another reason you should forgive the short chapter. I would also like to know what you are thinking. I am happy to have so many people read the last few chapters but not many people are telling me what they think. **

**Chapter 13**

The convoy arrived at the White house mere minutes prior to the beginning of the meet the press event. The Director had arranged for the President to be taken to a safe location away from the press conference while en route. Upon arriving the director immediately pulled Chuck to the area where the children were to perform. Dr. Williams, having jumped out of another one of the SUV's, quickly caught up to them, as the rest of the agents fanned out to sweep the area.

"Where is it Mr. Bartowski?" the director asked with obvious frustration in his voice.

"I don't know. I haven't seen anything that would make me…you know _remember_ where they put it." Chuck was attempting to be discreet. Although the President was safe there were hundreds of people in the nearby area that could easily be killed if there were an explosion. "I still think it would have been a good idea for all of these people to be made aware of the possibility of …_Fireworks_." Chuck nervously emphasized the word as if the director might miss what he was alluding to.

"Not without sufficient proof that a threat of…Chuck interrupted the director. Graham huffed and rolled his eyes before continuing, "Fine, not without proof that there will be _fireworks_."

"I already told you that there was going to be. Isn't that enough?"

"No it is not," the director looked squarely into Chuck's eyes. "Quite frankly I don't trust you."

"Chuck we have no way of knowing that there isn't someone here watching who would just detonate the bomb if everyone started to be evacuated, anyway," Dr. Williams added.

Chuck shook his head deciding that arguing the point was not going to do anyone any good. "I don't get it there is nothing here. According to the schemes that the intersect provided for the…you know what. They would have had a larger container to house it in. It was way to complex to assemble here, so they would have brought it in already assembled."

As Chuck was making what had to be his tenth trip around the area he heard the Children start singing. "No, we have to stop them. The bomb is set to go off half way through the first chorus."

Chuck started to rush towards the children when Graham and Dr. Williams grabbed him by the arms. "If there is an explosion you can not be here," the director stated firmly, as he and Dr. Williams started dragging Chuck back toward the SUV. The children neared the first chorus causing Chuck to begin frantically kicking and screaming trying unsuccessfully to free himself from their grip. Chuck stopped fighting when the children approached the point in the chorus when the bomb was set to explode, becoming very still he slowly closed his eyes.

---

Sarah was able to follow the SUV's into the city. Of course the fact that there were six Black full size SUV's in a row made them easy to spot. During the entire trip Sarah was trying to figure where they were going. _Did someone see her in the area causing them to move Chuck to an even more secure location? Were they taking Chuck to some kind of mission? What?_ Sarah was never one who could easily deal with not knowing something. Her questions started to be answered as the convoy neared the White house. This was a very secure location that is for sure, but it is not a bunker in which they would be keeping Chuck. There had to be some kind of threat that Chuck was helping with. Although she was starting to piece things together this provided her no relief. New fears began to grip her. Besides the normal fears over the fact that Chuck had an amazing ability to get himself into trouble while on missions, she couldn't help but fear what flashing would do to Chuck.

Sarah was brought from her thoughts by the sound of a siren coming from one of the SUV's, which had pulled up to a side entrance of the White House. Apparently the lead vehicle was explaining the situation to the Secret Service agent at the gate as the other SUV's fell inline behind them. Sarah jumped form her car and quietly made her way to the last vehicle in line. Lying underneath the vehicle she held on to the undercarriage as the car started moving towards the gate. It was risky but she was hoping that the secret service would not be searching each vehicle due to the seriousness of the situation. Her gamble paid off as the vehicles proceeded through the gate and came to a stop in a parking lot just outside of one of the gardens that was filled with reporters. Sarah stayed under the vehicle watching as the agents rushed away, heading in all directions. Among the agents rushing off was Director Graham. He was heading toward a small stage with rows of children dressed in choir robes, while nearly dragging Chuck along behind him with a man matching Ellie's description of Dr. Williams following closely behind them. Once the coast was clear Sarah made her way in the same direction as the director had taken Chuck, making sure to place her CIA credentials prominently around her neck. She may no longer work for the CIA, but the name badge around her neck would explain her presence to everyone other than the Director.

Sarah was able to stand behind a small row of bushes close enough to hear the three men's conversation without any of them noticing her. She was not all that surprised when she heard the panicked tone to Chuck's voice, and was pretty sure she knew what he meant when Chuck mentioned fireworks and schematics. She loved him but he was never very comfortable on missions. She smiled at how familiar this was to her. And for a second having Chuck be so near caused Sarah to briefly consider making a mad dash, grabbing Chuck, and getting him as far away from danger as she could, but these thoughts were fleeting. The chance of her being able to get him out without getting either of them killed was very slim. Again her thoughts were interrupted, this time by the panicked screams of a very frantic Chuck who was being dragged towards the vehicles. She could no longer make out what Chuck was saying as the director and Dr. Williams had already pulled him out of her earshot. When she was able to catch up just moments later her heart sank as she saw the horrified expression on Chuck's face. He was staring at the children with unshed tears filling his eyes. He had fought so hard to free himself that his chest was heaving, but then he just stopped. He became so very still, and as he stood there motionless he slowly closed his eyes.

---


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: okay so I am sorry. When I looked back at chapter 13 I guess the image was a little dark with kids being in danger. I will say more at the end as to not ruin anything for this chapter.**

**Chapter 14**

_From Chapter 13: Chuck began frantically kicking and screaming trying unsuccessfully to free himself from their grip. Just as the point in the chorus when the bomb was set to explode, Chuck became still and closed his eyes._

Chuck closed his eyes not wanting to see the death of hundreds. He waited listening for the explosion followed by the screams of those who had been injured and the cries of those whom had just witnessed the death of those close to them. All the other sounds faded in his mind as he waited, but the explosion and cries never came. Chuck forced one of his eyes to open ever so slightly, then opened both eyes fully. The bomb had not gone off. The song came to an end and all those in attendance rose to give the children a standing ovation. Chuck sighed so heavily in relief that he would have fallen to his knees if the Director and the Doctor were not still holding his arms.

The director looked down at Chuck with fury evident in his eyes. "Is this your idea of a joke or are you just trying to make me look like a fool as some sort of revenge?"

"What? No, that is not what is going on here?"

"Then what is going on here Mr. Bartowski?" the director had turned to face Chuck in a more aggressive stance.

"Well I…I don't know what is going on here. The intersect said that there was going to be a bomb going off during the song, but…" Chuck was interrupted by a harsh pull on his arm.

"I have heard enough out of you today," the director pulled Chuck over to an agent standing near by. "Get him out of my sight."

Chuck was so confused by the events of the afternoon that he barely even noticed when the agent took hold of his arm and pulled him around a shrub towards the vehicles, or when another agent took hold of Chuck's other arm as they made their way towards the vehicles.

Suddenly something brought Chuck's attention back to the present. Something was different yet very familiar. And then he realized what it was, orange creamcycle. Well not really, but it was a combination of a bright citrus and warm vanilla smell that always made him think of orange creamcycles as well as brightened his mood, and there was only one person who ever smelled that good to Chuck.

---

Sarah had seen the relief in Chuck's face when he opened his eyes. She knew that he was not trying to pull a fast one on the Director, not when he had shown pure desperation just a moment ago when trying to save those children. No, something had been planned for today, but for some reason didn't happen. She would have to worry about that later as her chance to free Chuck seemed to be approaching. She kept her distance until the agent had pulled Chuck out of the sight of the director and the Doctor then made her move. She took Chuck's left arm and looked at the other agent, but before she could say anything Chuck, who had been staring at the ground the entire time, suddenly started to look around as if searching for something. It only took a second for him to turn and look her straight in eyes. She concentrated everything she had into conveying a message for him to keep calm into a single look.

---

Chuck had nearly freaked out. He knew she was near, but he nearly fell over when he realized it was Sarah holding his left arm. He was about to throw his arms around her when he felt her grip on his arm tighten like a vice sending pain shooting through his bicep as she stared hard into his eyes. Coming back to his senses Chuck remembered the other agent holding his right arm and did his best to act calmly.

"I guess I am going to be stuck babysitting the nerd. The director wants you to help with the final sweep," Sarah acted as if she were annoyed as she spoke to the other agent.

"Huh, what did you do to piss off Graham," the agent laughed as he let go of Chuck's arm.

Sarah shook her head as she slowly led Chuck away, "I don't think we have enough time for me to explain all the ways I have pissed off Graham."

Once out of sight of the rest of the agents Sarah loosened her grip enough that Chuck could turn to face her. "Oww," Chuck said as he rubbed the area where she had been holding his arm.

"Sorry about that, are you okay?" Sarah asked as she looked up at Chuck.

Chuck just smiled and then threw both of his arms tightly around her, "I knew you would make me do this alone."

Sarah thoroughly enjoyed the warmth she felt as he held her, but she couldn't relax just yet. Using all the will power she could muster she pulled away from Chuck. "We are not safe yet. We still need to get you out of here." As she spoke she had started to walk away trying to pull Chuck along with her, only to have him remain standing where he was. "Chuck I missed you too and I promise to show you how much later, but we really need to get out of here," Sarah said with a small smile peaking through her serious expression.

"Sarah I…I can't," Chuck looked heartbroken as he spoke.

"Now really isn't the time for jokes Chuck," the smile faded from her face.

"I am not joking Sarah. I can't leave, not yet," Chuck dropped his head.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah was starting to show a hint of frustration in her own voice.

"They were going to kill hundreds of Children and the President, Sarah." Chuck paused for a second before continuing, "I know that if I go with you right now we are going to be running, and I am okay with that as long as I am with you," Chuck shared a small grin with her. "But first I need to take care of this. There was supposed to be a bomb here today, just because it didn't go off doesn't mean that this is over."

Sarah was amazed at what she was hearing, amazed and yet strangely not surprised. As one tear rolled down her cheek she answered with sadness in her voice, "Chuck we may never get another chance at this."

The words she had chosen did not go unnoticed by Chuck. This may be the only chance they had for him to escape, but it may also be the only chance they would ever have to be together. "Sarah, I want to run away with you more than anything in the world, but I could not live with myself if I didn't do everything I could to stop Fulcrum from hurting innocent people. If they succeed the war will continue and thousands of people will die, all because I did nothing."

Sarah couldn't argue with him. It would be so unfair for her to spend the first year she knew him telling him that he must continue on, even though he hated to, because it was for the greater good, and then turn around and tell him to forget the greater good just because she was afraid of losing him.

The conversation was temporarily interrupted as two agents came walking by. Sarah quickly grabbed Chuck's arm as if he were still in her captivity. Once the agents were gone Sarah spoke quickly, "Fine Chuck we will do it your way. We will go back to the compound and figure this all out, but once you give them the information they need we are gone first chance we get."

"Sarah you can't come with me. What if someone recognizes you?" Chuck's fear showed in his expression.

"Graham is the only person that would recognize me, and as far as anyone else is concerned I still work for the CIA," Sarah finished in a hushed voice as she began to lead Chuck back towards the SUV's.

"Wait, what do you mean as far as anyone else is concerned you still work for the CIA? You don't work for CIA anymore?"

Sarah couldn't tell if it was shock or excitement that she heard in Chuck's voice, "We will talk about it later," she said as she pushed him to the waiting black vehicles.

Chuck hopped into the back seat and Sarah stepped back. She didn't want to be in the car with Chuck if the Director decided to ride back with him. When she saw that Graham had taken a spot in the lead car, apparently still too angry to be near Chuck, Sarah attempted to get in the car with Chuck.

"Sorry this one is full," Dr. Williams said as he took the last open seat in the car just as Sarah was about to climb in.

"If you want I can ride here and chaperone him," Sarah said to the agent sitting next to Chuck.

"That's alright," the agent shrugged. "Director Graham instructed me to watch him personally. He may be mad at the geek for some reason, but he still wants him protected."

Sarah didn't want to leave Chuck, but she didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to herself either, so she closed the door and took a spot in the car directly behind the one containing Chuck and the Doctor.

A/N: In any story I ever write I will never have a kid die. As my specialty is the holistic health care of children, it goes against everything I do. Let me know what you think, PLEASE!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Chuck sat in the back seat of the large SUV with Dr. Williams on his right and the unknown agent on his left. An agent whom he had decided in the safety of his own head would be called Agent Gargantuan. The man was huge and not all that talkative, although he did share a couple of cross looks with Chuck when Chuck's fidgeting had gotten to a particularly annoying level.

"Sorry…again," Chuck said as he took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves as the motorcade made its way out of the city. He had been able to watch Sarah get into the car directly behind his, but had yet to determine whether this made him feel better or much, much worse. "_What if someone recognizes her? What if someone realizes that she is not supposed to be here?_" Chuck's internal fretting only caused his fidgeting to worsen.

"Relax Chuck. You have nothing to worry about," the doctor spoke is a soft voice in hopes of calming Chuck. "I know that Graham is pretty ticked at you right now, but trust me that dog is all bark no bite."

Chuck looked at Dr. Williams who was smiling at his own comment and smiled in return. "Let's hope your right," Chuck shook his head deciding to allow them to think that the director was what had him on edge.

---

"Sorry…again," Sarah was not one to fidget. She had faced death more times than she could remember, and had never really been nervous enough to fidget. However, she could seemingly do nothing to stop her leg from bouncing. She had spent the entire trip watching the car in front of them thinking that this may be the longest car ride she had ever experienced, and her patience was just about up. Unfortunately, the female agent sitting next to her had just had Sarah's bouncing knee land straight on her last nerve.

"Could you please control yourself? My god, you act like this was your first time off of the farm. It wasn't your first time in the field was it?" the condescension in the agent's voice would have been enough to push Sarah well past the breaking point if at that very moment she hadn't noticed movement just off the right of the road. "Oh no!" Sarah said as she pushed the other agent back in her seat so she could see out the window.

---

As the convoy of SUV's approached a closed weigh station on the highway, three navy blue SUV's had come out from behind the building blocking the road ahead causing the CIA vehicles to come sliding to a stop. Gun fire erupted from the blue vehicles striking the lead car causing the car to veer off of the road and through the median to escape the direct barrage of bullets, just missing three more blue SUV's that had approached through the oncoming lanes. Although the lead vehicle was able to narrowly escape the other were effectively trapped by the second group of blue SUV's as well as a few to the rear that must have been following the convoy at a distance. The only option the CIA SUV's had remaining was to veer to the right through a ditch and towards the abandoned weight station. The SUV that contained Chuck was the first to make a break in that direction.

---

Chuck had no clue what was going on when the car he was riding in suddenly came sliding to a stop. That was until he heard the shots being fired.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Chuck said as he started to freak out. "What is going on?"

"Shut up and keep your head down," was Gargantuan's curt response. Chuck slid down in his seat while turning to throw a worried glance at the car behind him.

It was Dr. Williams who was the first to react yelling for the driver to make his way toward the abandoned weigh station building "We are sitting ducks here. That building should provide us with some cover."

The driver agreeing that they did not stand a chance in their current position did not hesitate as he drove the SUV down the steep embankment and back up the other side of the ditch separating the highway from the weigh station. The occupants of the car were tossed around as the car made its way toward the building.

---

As soon as Sarah saw the SUV carrying Chuck moving farther away from them she leaned between the front seats and instructed the driver to follow. Although he hesitated at first, the ice cold look in Sarah's eye told him that she was not someone to argue with.

As their own vehicle bounded off of the road Sarah noticed that the fulcrum agents seemed to only be targeting either the engines or the drivers of the SUV's, as there were very few shots landing toward the rear of the vehicles. "_They know the Intersect is here,_" Sarah thought to herself. As she looked around to the other vehicles, she realized that all of the vehicles were being targeted in the same manner. "_They know he is here but they don't know what vehicle he is in. Hopefully that means they don't know who the Intersect is either._"

---

Chuck's SUV had just turned the corner, reaching the back of the building when for the second time in the last fifteen seconds the car came to a screeching halt. Waiting behind the building was another of the Blue SUV's. The fulcrum agents opened fire killing the driver and front passenger as well as causing the still running engine to erupt in flames.

"Everybody out," Gargantuan ordered as he nearly dragged Chuck out the door with him. Their vehicle provided them with enough cover that they were able to all slide out the driver's side of the SUV. The shots coming from the Fulcrum agents slowed significantly as Chuck, Dr. Williams, and the agent exited to vehicle.

"We need to get into the building if we want to have any chance of getting out of here alive," Gargantuan continued to take control. "I will cover you two. Ready? Go!"

The agent stuck his head over the hood of the vehicle opening fire on the fulcrum agents not giving Dr. Williams or Chuck any time to argue the plan. The two of them made a mad dash toward the building. Chuck had nearly made it through the door when a bullet ricocheted off of the hood of the black SUV and struck him in the arm.

"AAHHH! I'm hit." Chuck screamed as he fell to the floor just inside the building. Dr. Williams came rushing to his side to check the injury. "Tell me doc, how bad is it?" Chuck asked afraid to look at the wound.

"Just a flesh wound. You may need a couple stitches but you should be fine," the doctor sighed with relief.

"Really?" Chuck asked with astonishment in his voice. "It feels worse than that."

"I am sure that the pain is pretty intense, but you will be fine. Now come on we need to take better cover." The Doc ushered Chuck to his feet and towards one of the large restrooms just off the side of the main room. "Now you stay here while I go see if I can provide agent Marcus enough cover to get in here as well.

Chuck didn't like staying behind alone but did not argue, merely nodding instead.

---

The SUV Sarah was riding in rounded the corner of the building just in time to see Chuck and the Doc make their way into the building. Acting quickly Sarah opened her door and jumped from the vehicle before it came to a stop. She rolled to a stop next to the building where she was still out of sight of the fulcrum agents. Sarah stayed as close to the wall as possible as she made her way back around the corner of the building leading away from the gun fight. Sarah knocked the frosted glass out of the window that she found on the far side of the building and climbed through the window.

---

Chuck had taken refuge in the restroom peaking out the door towards the main entrance when he heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the window in one of the stalls only a few feet behind him. Chuck's eyes went wide in fear. He began to exit the restroom when he heard gunfire coming from the front door area. Knowing he was trapped in this room he looked frantically around for a place to hide. Deciding that one of the other stalls was his only option he quietly ran into the stall farthest away from the one with the window, closed the door as quietly as possible, and the climbed onto the toilet so that his feet we not visible. Looking down Chuck grabbed the plunger that had been next to the toilet and, using his uninjured left arm, raised it above his head ready to strike anyone who came into his stall. He stayed in this position listening as someone climbed through the window and made their way into the restroom. Chuck whispered to himself a small prayer for the person to just leave the restroom and for an instant thought that they had when he did not hear any movement. However his hopes were dashed when he heard some very subtle movement just outside his stall. His heart started to race even faster as he tightened his grip on the handle of the plunger.

The door quickly swung open causing Chuck to close his eyes and swing the plunger. Sarah seeing something crashing down at her head instinctively caught the plunger and snatched it away from Chuck without noticing what it was. Chuck had just started to slowly open his eyes when Sarah looked at what she had in her hands.

"Eww, that is disgusting," Sarah commented as she threw the plunger to the ground as if it were suddenly hot to the touch.

Chuck, recognizing the voice, fully opened his eyes, "Sarah?! What are you…Oh sorry about that." Chuck saw the plunger lying on the floor and realized what he had done.

Sarah merely shook her head and smiled at Chuck. "Don't worry about it," Sarah said as she pulled Chuck into a tight embrace causing Chuck to wince in pain.

Feeling Chuck recoil and groan in pain Sarah pulled back from the hug to look at him. "What happened to you?" she asked. Her eyes went wide as she realized that Chuck's sleeve was covered in blood. Reaching out she pulled Chuck form the Stall so she could get a better look at his injury. "Chuck you have been shot!"

"Ya, but the doc says that it is just a flesh wound that may only need a couple of stitches. Despite the fact that being shot had freaked him out as well, Chuck had an overwhelming desire to down play the injury as much as possible to prevent Sarah from worrying any further.

"Who is _the Doc?" _Sarah asked with her expression filled with apprehension.

"He is a doctor that works for the CIA. He has been taking care of me since I have been gone."

"So he knows about the intersect then?"

"Yes he does. He was in charge of some studies that the CIA was performing in trying to create another human intersect." Seeing the worry on Sarah face Chuck continued, "Sarah he has really been there for me. I think we can trust him."

Sarah knew that Chuck had a trusting nature that often got him into trouble, but decided to drop the matter for the time being. "Just promise me you will be careful around him okay."

"I promise," Chuck smiled. "Speaking of the doctor, I hope he is alright. He went to try to provide cover for Agent Garg…I mean Agent Marcus and there was a lot of firing out that way."

---

Dr. Williams had reached the main entrance and was peering out through the door to assess the situation. The sound of the gun fire became much louder as he opened the door ever so slightly to get a better view of the enemy. Agent Marcus remained pinned behind SUV while a second black SUV had ended up near by. The agents in the second black SUV had helped keep the fulcrum agents at bay, but things did not look good. From where he was standing Dr. Williams could only see one uninjured agent remaining from the second black SUV as well as a few agents crouched down nursing their injuries. He was not able to get a good look at the fulcrum agents or their position. As he was trying to decide how to proceed he noticed a small flash as the small flames coming from the hood of the SUV he had been riding in grew in height. Agent Marcus, also noticing that the car was dangerously close to exploding, chose that instant to make a dash for the rear corner of the building. The sounds of the fulcrum agents' increased firing at the retreating CIA agent were drowned by the sudden and very deafening explosion from under the SUV.

The explosion had been larger than anything the doctor had been anticipating. The force of the explosion destroyed the door he was hiding behind throwing the doc backward nearly ten feet, knocking him unconscious.


	16. Chapter 16

**This is a pretty short chapter but I already have 17 ready and will post it in just a few days. Happy reading and please let me know what you are thinking.**

**Chapter 16**

The sound of the explosion caused both Chuck and Sarah to jump as the entire building was shaken.

"What was that?" Chuck asked with fear apparent in his eyes.

"I'm not sure, but I think it may be time to get you out of here," Sarah said as she moved to the window though which she had come. "I think fulcrum knows that the human intersect is here."

"Wait! They know about me?"

"I don't think so. Their agents were only targeting the engines and drivers of our vehicles. They don't seem to want to kill anyone that they don't have to. That make me think they don't know who they are looking for."

Chuck relaxed a little, "But that still doesn't explain how they knew I was going to be here."

"I don't know how they knew you were going to be in this convoy, but for right now that is not as important as getting you out of here. I am thinking we might be able to get to those trees over there," Sarah said as she pointed out the window. "Once we get into the woods we might be able to escape."

"I think now would be a good time to tell you that I am not that great in the woods," Chuck shrugged nervously.

Sarah smiled warmly at him, "Don't worry everything will be fine. We will get through this."

Chuck, now reassured, nodded as he followed Sarah over to the window, and watched as she skillfully pulled herself up to the window seal and after looking around gracefully dropped to the ground below. "Come on Chuck, the coast is clear."

Chuck's lanky frame did not fit through the window as easily. This combined with his lack of physical coordination caused his exit out of the window to be much less graceful. Sarah turned to keep a watch missing Chuck start to waving his arms in circles as he lost his balance.

"Aaahhh…_thud_," Chuck landed in the grass flat on his back knocking the air from his lungs.

"Chuck are you alright?" Sarah asked as she crouched at his side.

"Great," Chuck forced out as he tried to gather his breath while Sarah helped him to his feet. Just then the sound of a stick snapping caught both of their attentions. Sarah held a finger over her lips telling Chuck to be quiet while she pushed him back against the wall. Drawing her gun she walked stealthily toward the end of the wall and waited. Seconds later Sarah reached around the end of the wall grabbing a large man and pulling him around the brick corner. The man had been caught off guard and did not put up much of a fight against Sarah despite his size. Sarah swept his legs from under him and struck him in the back of the head with her pistol as he fell, knocking him seemingly unconscious.

Chuck, although initially shocked by the sudden movement, realized quickly that he recognized the large man. "Sarah that is Agent Marcus," Chuck said as he jogged over to where Sarah was standing over the man.

Sarah looked from Chuck to the man who was starting to stir again at their feet before striking the man in the back of the head again. Seeing Chuck's confused expression Sarah responded intently, "We don't know who we can trust…besides it was his job to protect you." Sarah looked briefly at the blood on Chuck's sleeve before continuing, "Maybe next time he will know that he needs to do a little bit better job."

Chuck merely gave a half smile while shaking his head, "You can be kind or scary sometimes when you are being all over protective." Sarah's glare hardened even more this time at Chuck himself causing him to hurriedly try to save himself, "In a very sexy, glad she is on my side way…you know just one more nuance to love about Sarah Walker."

Chuck would never be sure whether it was his words or the nervous Bartowski smile accompanying them that had saved him, but one of them had done the trick as Sarah looked back at the man lying on the ground at her feet. "I guess I may have over reacted a bit," she admitted as she took a step in Chuck's direction causing Chuck to become slightly nervous, "But I am not sorry that I find protecting you to be very important. It took me a long time to find where I belong and who I belong with. I am not going to let anyone take that away from me now."

---

Smoke and dust filled the air making visibility nearly nonexistent. That combined with the mental fog the doctor was experiencing made for a difficult time in getting his bearings. He could see a large hole in the wall where the door he had been standing behind had been. That door now lay across the lower half of his body. As his mind began to clear he did a quick self check to assess the extent of his injuries. His head was aching and, after touching his forehead, he found a moderate amount of blood on his fingers. The cut didn't seem to be anything a few stitches wouldn't take care of. He continued his self exam finding no life threatening injuries. He did have quite a few minor lacerations and what he guessed to be a broken leg. He figured that the heavy metal door had shielded him from the blast and helped to prevent much greater injuries.

The doctor began working his way from underneath the heavy door knowing that the fulcrum agents could be there any minute. He had nearly gotten himself free when he heard the sound of someone approaching. As quietly as possible he finished freeing himself and began limping toward a door at the opposite end of the building as the bathroom in which he had left Chuck.

He had made it to the door only to find it locked when a man's voice disrupted the quiet in the room. "Well look who we have here," the man's voice called out causing the doctor to turn away from the locked door, knowing that he had been caught.

---

Deciding that teasing Sarah about being too protective of him, something he actually didn't mind, may not be the best idea, Chuck smiled warmly at Sarah. He moved to her side to hug her but was stopped mid step by the sudden sound of a helicopter flying just over the tee tops. The CIA agents must have been able to radio for help as the chopper opened fire on the remaining Fulcrum agents. The blue SUV's that remained functioning all made a break for it with the chopper following in pursuit. Before Sarah and Chuck had a chance to make a break for the woods a couple of the Black SUV's approached in the distance.

"We are not going to be able to make a run for it now, so we will have to stick with the original plan," Sarah spoke quickly to Chuck. "They shouldn't think anything of me being her with you, but I am going to go around the other side of the building just to be safe. Chuck trust no one, and be careful." Without any other words Sarah started to run away.

"Sarah!" Chuck called causing Sarah to stop and turn back to him. "I love you."

Sarah recognizing the fear in Chuck's eyes smiled to comfort him, "I love you too, and don't worry. I am not done being over-protective just yet." She turned and ran around the corner just before the Black SUV's arrived, coming within a few yards of Chuck. One of the SUV's had a great number fewer bullet holes in it. This SUV came to a stop right in front of Chuck with one of the rear doors swinging open before the vehicle came to a complete stop, making way for a very aggravated Director Graham.

---


	17. Chapter 17

**Another shorter chapter, but I thought it would be fun to split this one and 16. I will be posting another chapter Sunday or Monday and then every two or three days after that for a little while. I have a few chapters ahead now. **

**Chapter 17**

"Well look who we have here!" the fulcrum agent said as he walked up to the doctor who had turned to face him. "You know we have been trying to contact you for quite some time now. You really should try to check your messages a little more frequently."

"Director Graham has been watching me like a hawk. It wasn't safe to contact you."

"You didn't seem to have any trouble letting us know that the price for the intersect had doubled," the agent's smile faded as his jaw tightened in anger.

"I was merely adjusting the price based on the fact that the intersect is a lot more valuable than we thought. After I saw what the intersect is capable of first hand, I realized that we had grossly underestimated its value. Believe me when your boss sees what it can do, he will consider my fee the best investment he has ever made." The doctor tried to appear confident, despite the steady increase in pain that standing was causing in his leg.

The fulcrum agent paused apparently mulling over the doctor's words giving the doctor a chance to continue, "Besides I was able to contact you in time to warn you about the press conference raid today. That should prove to you where my loyalties lie."

"Dr. Williams, I am no fool. Your loyalties lie with whoever is willing to pay you the most," the agent relaxed slightly as he spoke. "We are appreciative of the warning you provided however," he said as he lowered his weapon. "With that in mind, I am willing to give you one more chance to make amends. Where is the intersect now?"

The doctor knew he was as good as dead if fulcrum found Chuck so he lied, "He…He is gone. He was in the lead vehicle with Director Graham. They were able to elude your men and escape." Seeing the displeasure growing on the fulcrum agents face the doctor continued, "But not to worry. I can still get him for you. They have most likely taken him straight back to their compound. My cover there is still intact."

"Or you can tell us where this compound is and we can just go in and get him," the agent began to raise his voice.

"That would not work. That place is locked down tighter than the White House, besides we have an ace up our sleeve anyway." Having gotten the agents attention the doctor explained, "The intersect trusts me. It will not take him long to realize that someone on the inside tipped off fulcrum about the raid today. When he does, I will be right there to help him figure out who. Then for his own safety we will need to get him out of that compound. It will be a lot easier for a doctor to move his patient around the compound than it would be for a team of fulcrum agents to storm the place."

Finally convinced the agent relented, "Fine, but know that we will be watching. You had better not try anything or collecting _your_ _Fee_ will be the last of your worries."

The conversation was cut short as the sound of a helicopter followed closely by the sound of large caliber gun fire erupted outside the building. "You have 24 hours to get us the intersect. You had better not disappoint," the agent turned and ran out the hole in the wall accompanied by the two other agents that had been standing guard there.

---

"Don't you move! Don't you take one step!" The angry director yelled as he quickly walked towards Chuck.

Chuck threw his hands above his head, "Not moving…I have no intention of going anywhere Director."

"So you were not going to try to make a run for it?" the director asked incredulously.

"Are you kidding me?" Seeing the less than enthusiastic expression on the director Chuck chose to rephrase his response, "Director, Sir, I was just hiding from fulcrum in the bathroom then there was this explosion that shook the whole building so I climbed out the window."

"Okay then, what happened to agent Marcus?" the director's gaze fell on the unconscious man lying in the grass near Chuck's feet.

"Oh…him…Someone must have knocked him out or something," Chuck responded nervously.

"So you didn't knock him out so you could make a run for it?"

"No! I mean come on Director, let's think about this. Do you really think I could have knocked him out?" Chuck shrugged.

"You seem to always be full of surprises," for an instant Chuck was proud that the Director would think he was capable of such a thing. "But I guess your right. Marcus is one of our best. No computer geek would be able to get a jump on him." Chuck's shoulders fell as the pride he had been feeling was squashed as the Director continued. "Either way, we need to get you out of here. You two," the director pointed to two agents, "You get Marcus into my car. And you two," he said pointing to two other agents, "You take the other car and get any other agents and head back to the compound ASAP."

The Director turned and looked at Chuck again, "You get in the car now. You are not getting out of my sight again."

---

Sarah hid around the corner of the building watching the two approaching SUV's from out of sight. She wanted to make sure that they had not seen her with Chuck and that Chuck was actually safe. Her breath caught when she saw the Director climb out of the SUV before it had even stopped. Her first thought was that he had seen her and they were about to be in a heap of trouble. However she let out a sigh of relief when she heard the Director yelling at Chuck and accusing him of attacking Marcus. When the Director gave the instructions for two agents to pick-up any other agents she continued around the building where she could meet up with them.

As she made her way along the building toward the main entrance she heard footsteps causing her to take cover behind what remained of the charred SUV that had exploded. From her position she saw three men run from the building and jump into one of the blue SUV's. Seconds after their quick exit another man exited the building. This man turned toward the black SUV's and limped slowly in Chuck's direction.

"Freeze right there! CIA! Don't move!" Sarah yelled at the man.

Dr. Williams placed his hands behind his head, "I am CIA as well, don't shoot."

"Identify yourself!" Sarah did not lower her weapon, and her voice remained firm.

"My name is Dr. James Williams. I work for the CIA."

Sarah hearing the name looked at the man a little closer. Behind the blood and bruises she recognized him as the man that had been sitting next to Chuck in the SUV when they left the White House. Lowering her gun slightly Sarah cautiously approached the Doc, "Did you see the men that came out of the building right before you did?"

"Oh…ah, ya I did, but…but they didn't see me. I was partially buried beneath a door after the explosion. I am just grateful that they didn't spot me lying there."

The nervousness in his response caused Sarah to feel suspicious. "Ya, that is pretty lucky." She didn't say anything else to the man as the two agents in the SUV had just come around the corner. Instead she helped him walk to their ride and helped him into the front passenger seat. She climbed into the rear driver's side seat where she could keep an eye on him.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Chuck had had the pleasure of sitting directly beside the Director for the remainder of the ride back to the compound. He had spent the entire ride trying to make sense of the situation. _Why had the intersect given him inaccurate information? Was the information inaccurate or had someone tipped off Fulcrum? That would explain how they knew he was going to be there. But if they knew he was going to be there why had they acted like they didn't know who they were looking for?_ He had finally come to the conclusion that someone must have tipped off fulcrum but not trusted them enough to tell them who was the intersect.

Sarah was having much the same inner dialogue as Chuck throughout the trip back to the compound. She had come to a similar conclusion though she was now focused on figuring out who was the leak. She could not get past her suspicions of Dr. Williams. There was something about this man and his actions at the weight station that did not sit right with her. She looked at the man sitting in the front seat. He would occasionally sneak a nervous glance in her direction as if he knows that she doesn't trust him.

The doctor quickly exited the vehicle upon arriving back at the compound. A few other agents helped him into the silo in which they had been keeping Chuck. Sarah stayed towards the back of the group as much as possible. She knew that Chuck was sure to be taken underground as quickly as possible so she took the first opportunity that presented itself. The director was standing only a few feet from Chuck though he was facing in the opposite direction. Sarah walked casually over bumped into Chuck. When he realized who it was she slid a small communication device into his hand, giving his hand a light squeeze before walking away unnoticed by anyone other than Chuck.

Chuck looked around making sure no one would notice before putting the ear bud in place and dropping the wireless microphone in the front pocket of his shirt.

"Let's go Bartowski," the director barked as he grabbed Chuck by the arm and lead him towards the entrance of the silo through which Dr. Williams had just passed.

Sarah watched as Chuck was taken inside, then proceeded to follow the majority of the agents into the building next to the silo. Inside this building was a large mess hall filled with round tables. The agents seemed to be settling in for dinner. She took a seat at a table at the edge of the room where she would not be disturbed as she listened in on Chuck.

---

Chuck watched the numbers light up as the small elevator made its way deeper into the ground. "You know I always thought that these underground bunkers would be in a mountain somewhere," Chuck looked around though no one responded at his attempt at small talk. The elevator doors opened allowing them to exit, "I mean if you are going to keep me two stories under ground, wouldn't it have been easier to just dig into a mountain?"

Above ground Sarah listened to the static filled communication coming from Chuck's mike. She smiled as she heard Chuck drop the first clue as to where to find him. _The second floor down, well done Chuck_, she thought to herself. It was fortunate that he was not any deeper. The communication device that Sarah had given him was extremely powerful for its size, but even so, being that far underground was causing the signal to be broken at best.

Chuck continued down the hall with the Director at his side, "So what is down the hallway to the right there?" Chuck nodded his head toward the mentioned hallway when they got to a Y in the hallway. "I don't think I have ever been down that way. That must be the VIP suites," Chuck smiled at the Director. The Director, who was not amused as he was beginning to lose patience with Chuck, merely shook his head in reply.

Chuck and the director reached the nurses station outside of the room that Chuck had been kept in. There was one nurse sitting behind the desk listening to the radio when they arrived. As soon as she saw that it was Chuck approaching she broke into a large smile. "Chuck, I was hoping that you hadn't left without at least saying goodbye," the nurse joked with a flirtatious wink.

"Oh no way, I can't get enough of this place," Chuck said with sarcasm dripping from his response. Chuck's expression softened a little when he saw the disappointment in the nurse's face. "Besides, I could never leave my favorite nurse without saying goodbye," Chuck's smile caused the nurse to blush.

Director Graham looked from the nurse to Chuck and then back to the nurse, "I am sure that you are a very busy young lady and that you have something you need to be doing at this time."

The nurse looked at the Director, "Yes sir, sorry sir. Bye Chuck," she gushed before turning and quickly walking away.

Sarah who had been listening the entire time felt her fist tighten as she heard the nurse flirting with Chuck over the mike. She could just imagine the looks that the nurse was giving her boyfriend. "You better walk away," Sarah let slip. An agent that had been innocently walking behind Sarah overheard the venom in her voice causing him to scurry away completely unnoticed by Sarah.

The Director was finishing signing Chuck back in on the logs, as Chuck leaned against the desk. Behind the desk was a small radio that the nurses had been listening to prior to the Director's arrival. The radio was still playing causing Chuck to subconsciously bounce his head with the music. The song ended followed by a news bulletin.

In today's news, the unusual stoppage in traffic just west of the city today has finally cleared. Officials state that a multiple vehicle accident occurred near an abandoned weigh station resulting in traffic being backed up for miles in both directions. The names and extent of injuries of those involved in the accident have not been released at this time.

On a more upbeat note, President Obama announced this afternoon that he will be attending an unveiling of a brand new electric car tomorrow afternoon. Up and coming company RENEW will be unveiling a new electric car that promises to change the future in unimaginable ways. President Obama stated that it is the young and inspired companies such as RENEW that will lead our country into a future in which we are more environmentally minded and less dependent on foreign oil. This unveiling comes at a perfect time as the President is in the midst of an international effort to increase the usage of renewable energy.

Chuck's eyes glazed over as the newscast continued. The image of a solar panel, a file with the image of RENEW's CEO, schematics for the same bomb as he had flashed on earlier in the day, the President, and then the solar panel again all flashed through his mind. As the flash ended Chuck gritted his teeth in pain and leaned heavily on the desk to steady him self. Although the flashes continued to be painful, Chuck was able to tolerate the pain with this most recent flash. After taking a few seconds to collect himself Chuck looked around to see if anyone had noticed him flashing. The Director was still filling out paperwork and none of the nurses had returned. No one had seemed to notice his unusual behavior.

Chuck's breathing became shallow as panic started to set in. He now knew that the plan to assassinate the President had changed. The electric car was now the bomb. He needed to do something to help, but he had no idea who to trust. Deciding that Sarah was the only person he could tell about his flash he tried to communicate what he had learned by dropping hints, and hoping she understood, "I really wish I could go to that unveiling. I am POSITIVE that that new ELECTRIC CAR is going to change the FUTURE."

Director Graham raised his head from the papers he was completing and looked curiously at Chuck. "Is there something wrong Mr. Bartowski?"

"No, nothing is wrong. Everything is great. I just really don't like killing the environment. You gotta watch that carbon foot print you know." Chuck tried to act normal, fortunately for him Director Graham had seen him in a freaked out state of mind much more frequently than he had ever seen him relaxed, so this was normal Bartowski behavior in the eyes of the Director.

Sarah had heard Chuck's frantic babbling and picked-up on his clues about the electric car. The nervousness in his voice made it clear to her that something was definitely going on. She was going to have to make her move tonight if she was going to get him out of that silo in time to help.

---

Chuck laid in his bed for a few hours trying to relax. This proved to be an exercise in futility as his mind continued to race. The Director, after watching Chuck for some time, seemed to become more and more suspicious of Chuck as time went on. He had hardly ever let him out of his sight since returning to the compound. Finally when the Director decided to go home for the night Chuck had been left alone. He immediately tried to contact Sarah through the comm. device, but wasn't able to hear anything in reply. He couldn't tell if she could hear him and he could not hear her response or if nothing was getting through at all.

"I don't know if you can hear me out there, but I really think that electric car unveiling will be a big hit. That car is really going to knock 'em dead. I really wish I could be there for it. If I can't get it off my mind I may just go for a walk right about the time I would be finished with inventory at my old job." Chuck tried to be discrete incase anyone else had picked up on the signal. There was nothing else he could do but wait.

---

He looked at the clock for what had to have been the hundredth time. 11:00, finally time to go. Chuck got up from his bed and crept to the door. Using the number he had watched the nurse punch into the keypad, Chuck opened the heavy metal door. It was time for the security personal to change shifts. The next guard was always a little slow to make a round of the infirmary where they were keeping Chuck. Chuck, in his boredom during his stay, had hypothesized that this was a result of the guard being a germ-a-phobe.

Chuck knew he had about ten minutes or so until anyone would be coming so he made his way toward the elevators. He had nearly made it to the elevators when he heard the unmistakable _bing_ followed by the elevator doors sliding open, causing him to quickly jump into a large laundry cart that was in the hallway.

He was not able to see around the corner to the elevators but he could hear very light footsteps coming his way. Chancing one peak Chuck was relieved to see that it was Sarah that had come around the corner, gun drawn and carrying a black bag. Chuck sat up quickly and called to her in a stage whisper, "Sarah over here!"

Sarah jumped slightly and swung her gun with amazing quickness to point it at Chuck. "Chuck don't do that! I could have shot you!"

"My bad, I was just glad that it was you." Chuck started to get out of the cart when Sarah stopped him. He didn't understand why until he heard the elevator doors open again. Sarah quickly pushed Chuck back into the cart and climbed in on top of him lying face to face.

Sarah's heart was already racing due to the life or death situation but now being in such a compromising position with Chuck she was quite certain her heart was going to leap straight out of her chest. She could tell that Chuck was affected as well, as he swallowed very hard as his heart beat hard enough that she could feel it against her chest.

"Um Sarah I…," Chuck began to whisper before Sarah placed a finger over his lips. Slowly Sarah shifter her weight so that she was now straddling Chuck. Chuck's eyes went as wide as humanly possible. _This had to be some sort of torture_, he thought before closing his eyes and laying his head back.

Sarah continued to ease herself up until she was able to grab the edge of the cart with both hands. She waited until the person had passed the cart before swinging her entire body out over the edge of the cart striking the man in the back of the head with her right foot. The man fell to the ground dropping the cane he had been carrying. Sarah followed the kick by pistol whipping the man back of the head knocking him unconscious.

Chuck didn't see her pounce but did feel her very sudden absence. Opening his eyes he saw her standing next to the cart with her hand held out to him, "Come on Chuck let's go."

Chuck looked down and saw the man laying there with the cane next to him, "Sarah did you just attack an old man?"

"No, I didn't attack an old man," Sarah said incredulously. "That is Dr. Williams. He broke his leg earlier today," she finished matter-of-factly.

"Dr. Williams? But he could have helped us out of here."

"Chuck, we don't know who we can trust," Sarah looked pleadingly at Chuck.

Chuck decided not to argue but looked at the prone doctor with sympathy in his eyes, "I just don't see how we are going to get out of here," he said as he turned to face Sarah once more.

"First of all you are going to put this on, Sarah said as she tossed the bag to Chuck, "Then we are going to take this one step at a time. I have already taken out the guards upstairs, and we have the added advantage of surprise. They are not going to be expecting someone trying to break out. Their defenses are set up to keep people out not to keep people in, but we need to move quickly before someone realizes that the guards upstairs are not at their post."

"Uh Sarah…what about him?" Chuck asked as he looked at the prone Doctor.

Sarah looked around quickly, "I guess he goes into the laundry for now."

---


	19. Chapter 19

**I am so happy that you guys like that last chapter. I love hearing the reviews. I hope to continue with frequent chapters until the story is complete but I have to warn you, that all depends on when my first baby gets here. She is due any day. From what I hear I may have a few sleepless nights ahead of me. **

**Chapter 19**

Chuck, now dressed in black field gear, stood silently next to Sarah as the elevator rose to the ground level. When the doors slid open Sarah exited first, making sure that the coast was clear. Seeing that the guards that she had disabled had not yet been noticed, she called for Chuck to catch up with her.

"We need to work our way past both the building next door and the large barn on the opposite side of it. After that there is a small field that we will have to cross to get to the outer perimeter. If we get separated keep moving in that direction."

"Being separated is not a part of the plan is it?" Chuck stated more than asked.

"No it is not. I am hoping that we are able to go unnoticed, but if we are noticed we may need to improvise."

Chuck shook his head, "Improvising seems to be hit or miss for me."

"It will be fine, just don't stop moving. And DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. You worry about getting yourself out. I will be right behind you." Sarah knew she might as well be telling this to the wall they were hiding behind, but it had to be said.

Before Chuck had a chance to argue with her she took his hand and began leading him out of the silo and towards the large building that contained the mess hall. There were lights coming out a few of the windows, but there didn't seem to be much movement. Sarah and Chuck were able to quietly and quickly make their way along the long building. At the end of the building the two stopped and listened around the corner. Two men were standing outside of the building smoking cigars

"That was the biggest fire fight I have ever been a part of," the one man said to the other.

"Me too, and I don't even know what it was all about. Who in their right mind jumps a CIA convoy?" the other man replied as he relit his cigar.

Their conversation was interrupted as two large spot lights suddenly came on from above the front doors of the silo that Chuck and Sarah had just exited, followed closely by a loud alarm sounding.

The men both dropped their cigars and took off running for the silo.

"Damn it! There goes the whole unnoticed idea," Sarah angrily whispered to Chuck. "Come on," she said as she grabbed his hand and ran for the barn. As soon as they made it in Sarah shut and latched the door. The grounds outside the building became much more active as more agents came running from the long building between the barn and the silo. The initial group all ran towards the silo, but a smaller group of three men came running from the building directly towards the barn. "There are three approaching. You hide Chuck."

"What are you going to do?"

"I am going to get us a way out of here. If you lose sight of me make your way towards the end of the field," Sarah looked at Chuck who had remained standing there, "Chuck go NOW!"

Chuck turned and ran to the other end of the barn. He looked around for a place to hide, but didn't see anywhere promising. He finally decided to hide in a barn stall that opened into a fenced area leading out the side of the barn. Chuck climbed the locked gate and crouched down at the edge of the stall. From here he could barely see the other end of the barn, though he had lost sight of Sarah. He waited nervously until he saw the door start to open. Two of the men came through the door. Neither was being too cautious, obviously convinced that the alarm was merely a drill of some sorts. They allowed the door to swing closed behind them and walked farther into the barn looking around as they went. Chuck watched as Sarah silently lowered herself from the rafters immediately behind the then both. She remained hanging with her hands grasping the rafters and her legs dangling. Silently she swung herself until she had enough momentum to reach one of the men with her legs, wrapping his head and neck between her thighs. The man had been caught off guard and began to struggle, but he could not make a sound as Sarah cut off his breathing. It did not take long for the agent to fall limp and unconscious to the floor. The other agent had continued forward checking the stalls as he went never even noticing the struggle going on only a few feet behind him. After checking the third stall on the left side of the building he turned to check on his partner seeing instead a tall blond blur that was too close and moving too quickly for him to react in time.

Sarah had snuck up on the agent and was only a few feet away when the man had started to turn. At that instant Sarah attacked. The agent was unable to block the initial blow to the side of his head, the right elbow blow knocking the man to the ground. Unfortunately the agent had been able to let out a small yell just before being struck. Sarah silenced him with a swift kick to the side of the head.

It did not take long for Chuck to hear some one come in response to the yell they had heard. Another agent, whom Chuck had guessed was the third agent in the group, opened the rear door only feet away from Chuck. Chuck made himself as small as possible behind the gate and watched as Sarah ran out the front door of the barn, but not before being seen. The third agent ran the length of the barn and out the front door after her.

Chuck was not sure which way to go. He knew what Sarah had said about him not waiting for her, but he couldn't just leave her. He turned and looked at the heavy fencing that ran out into a small enclosure outside of the barn. He would be able to stay hidden if he stayed inside the enclosure but he would also be able to see if Sarah was in trouble. Chuck ducked down and jogged out along the fence looking between the rungs the entire time. He saw no sign of Sarah until he had reached the other end of the fence. There he could see her thoroughly kicking the snot out of the agent that had made the mistake of chasing after her. However, Sarah's scrap with the agent had caught the attention of one of the agents making rounds on an ATV. The ATV was quickly approaching and Sarah had failed to see it, and with all the commotion going on around the area she must not have heard the it either. As it got closer and closer Chuck became more and more nervous, "Turn around Sarah, come on turn around."

Realizing that Sarah was not going to see the ATV in time if he did nothing, Chuck jumped up on the tall fence and screamed, "SARAH BEHIND YOU!" The warning was just in time as Sarah was able to not only jump out of the way of the speeding ATV but she was also able to knock the driver from his seat in the process. Satisfied that he had helped Sarah, Chuck ducked back down behind the fence. He searched the area trying to find any sign that someone had spotted him when he had yelled for Sarah. He did not see anything but he did hear something moving behind him. Slowly Chuck turned putting his hands in the air expecting someone with a gun trained on him.

However, there was no agent with a gun behind him. Instead there was a huge black bull pawing at the ground with its front hoof. The moonlight shined off of the beast's long horns as well as its large angry eyes. Chuck, caught by surprise, slipped and fell back against the fence. "HOLY…" he said as he landed in a seated position.

Slowly Chuck tried to gather himself while talking to the bull, "Nice bull, good bull. I am not here to hurt you so I am sure you don't want to hurt me, RIGHT?" The last word came out more as a squeak. Chuck, nearly scared stiff, got to his feet as slowly as possible. Then with his hands out to the side, he shuffled ever so carefully to his left. He was sure that if he were to turn and try to climb the fence with only a few feet separating the two of them he would never make it so he needed to put some space between the bull and himself. The bull seemed to allow Chuck to continue moving along the fence for a few seconds, content to just stare at him and continue to stomp his hoof in an aggressive manner. By this time Chuck had made it nearly a quarter of the way around the small enclosure and had now put about fifteen feet between he and the bull. "See bulls aren't that bad," Chuck said as he started to relax his tense movements. He had spoken to soon. Just as he finished his assessment regarding the misunderstood nature of bulls he accidentally kicked over a small empty pale that he had failed to notice. The noise seemed to startle the bull even more than it had startled Chuck. The bulls snorted and forcefully raised its head throwing his large horns quickly through the air. Chuck's eyes nearly popped from their sockets, "Uh oh," he said as he turned and as quickly as possible started to climb the fence behind him. He had climb nearly to the top before just heaving himself over the fence landing flat on his back on the other side. It was the second time that day he had landed in such a fashion and yet again he had knocked all the air from his lungs as well as causing his vision to temporarily go hazy. He heard a lot of movement coming from all around him as the stars cleared from his eyes. Chuck franticly looked around in fear realizing that he had landed amongst a large group of cattle. At first Chuck was frightened thinking he had jumped from the frying pan and into the fire, but soon realized that these cattle couldn't care less about his presence. That was until the bull began ramming himself against the fence in order to continue his pursuit of Chuck. With every load crash the cattle would move around nervously. Finally the bull, completely enraged, slammed himself against the fence with a thunderous crash. This loud noise proved to be too much for the jittery cattle causing them all to run away from the fence separating them from the bull.

Chuck was nearly trampled by the stampede before he could make his way to a smaller fence that was not attached to the bull's pen. From there he watched as the stampede continued to grow as the cattle nearest the fence ran into other cattle scattered throughout the small pasture. The beasts continued running wildly knocking over a small section of the split rail fence and continuing into the large field between the barn and the outer perimeter. Chuck's awe-struck gawking was cut short by the sound of an approaching ATV.

Sarah had been able to ascertain the ATV from its former occupant and was speeding toward the field when she first saw the stampeding cattle as they made their way out of their enclosure. "_Chuck!_" she thought out loud, somehow knowing that Chuck was responsible.

Chuck saw Sarah on the ATV and did not hesitate to climb over the fence towards her. As she came to a stop he looked at the stampeding cattle and back to Sarah, "I can explain."

She just shook her head, "Forget about it, the cattle may actually provide us with the cover we need to get across the field. Hurry, get on."

Chuck hopped onto the four-wheeler behind her as she had ordered. Sarah took off weaving amongst the cattle out across the large field. With each weaver or each time they narrowly missed a cow Chuck's grip on Sarah tightened. "Can't breath Chuck!" Sarah yelled back to Chuck.

"Sorry," he apologized but only lightened his grip slightly.

Fortunately, Sarah was able to follow the herd's running while covering most of the ground to the outer perimeter, and only need to make a quick dash uncovered across a small section of the field to get to the outer most fencing. Once at the outer fencing she stopped the ATV and climbed off along with Chuck. "There should be someone making rounds out here," Sarah said with confusion as she held her gun outstretched.

"Maybe they went in to see what the alarm was about."

"I don't think so," Sarah continued to look around for any other agents. In her surveillance of the compound she had seen countless different agents making rounds and guarding the outer fence. She could not understand why there was no one around now, even though the alarm had sounded warning of a threat.

"I guess it is better not to question good luck," Chuck shrugged.

"Ya, I guess not," though her suspicious did not waver.

The two of the approached the tall wire fence where Sarah instructed Chuck how to best climb over the fence, using his jacket to cover the razor wire at the top of the fence.

"And Chuck," Sarah continued as she remembered him falling from the window earlier in the day, "please be careful." Chuck smiled and climbed over then fence with only moderate difficulty, getting stuck twice and only getting a few minor cuts. His face showed a great deal of pride when he landed on his feet on the other side of the fence.

Sarah smiled at Chuck and nodded giving him quiet approval before taking a deep breath and putting a much more serious expression on her face. "I guess what you said about not running until we stop fulcrum still stands."

Chuck nodded in response, "I could never live with myself if I did anything else."

"Well, if I understood you correctly about that radio newscast, I guess we have an assassination to stop then," and with that the two turned and started jogging through the woods away from the compound not noticing the three unconscious agents lying near the fence approximately 40 yards away.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N sorry it took a while but things have been busy since our first baby was born June 28****th****. I will post as often as I can. It is just hard to type while holding her, and she is just too amazing to put down. **

**Chapter 20**

During Chuck and Sarah's escape from the compound the alarm had been tripped by an agent who had noticed that the two men who were to be guarding the main entrance of the silo were no longer at their post. Any time the alarm was sounded a couple of agents would make rounds in the silo taking a role-call of all the "high priority occupants." It did not take long for these agents to determine that Chuck Bartowski was missing. The logical next step was to believe that he was the one who had escaped, although no one was quite certain as to how he had done so. Even the unconscious doctor, found lying face down in the laundry cart an hour later, was unable to supply the agents with any answers.

The Director arrived back at the compound approximately an hour before sunrise. His normal cold demeanor was nothing compared to the rigid posture and intense fury that was currently emanating from him. "So let me get this straight," the Director ground his teeth as he spoke to the agent who had the unfortunate position of being in charge at the moment, "A computer repairman with no training what so ever was able to sneak out of a maximum security government building, take down two armed CIA agents, and then evade nearly seventy five other agents, while making his way across 600 yards of field, and no one even got a glimpse of him."

"Well Sir...that is not completely accurate. There were four other agents that were found unconscious in or near the barn. We are hoping that they will be able to provide us with further information when they regain consciousness."

"HOPING! YOU ARE HOPING THEY WILL!" the Direct was now screaming at the agent as he grabbed the man by the front of his shirt. "You had better do more than hope they have some information or it will be your head. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Y-Yess Sir, Crystal Sir," the agent said before turning and jogging towards the infirmary to check on the condition of the agents. The agent had made it a few strides only to remember something and come to a stop. "S-Sir," the agent spoke hesitantly, "There was one other person that had contact with the escapee."

The Director turned his angry glare back to the agent, "and who would this person be?"

"Dr. Williams Sir. We found him unconscious in a laundry cart. He states that someone had jumped him from behind before he knew what was going on."

"Did he get a look at who it was?"

"Well…no Sir, but shouldn't we assume it was the kid that escaped?"

"I highly doubt that," the director spoke more to himself than the agent as he turned and walked away.

---

Chuck came to a stop placing his hands on his knees. His breathing was labored and sweat poured from his brow. Sarah, realizing that Chuck had stopped, turned to see him hunched over. She was also breathing heavily as they had been running through the woods for nearly three hours.

"Are you okay Chuck?"

"Ya...I guess I...am not...in the best...shape," he struggled to say.

"The highway is not far now. Once we get there we will be able to hitch a ride back into the city." Sarah looked around. She was a little surprised that they had not encountered any agents since escaping the compound. They had only had to hide from a passing helicopter a few times, but that had not been difficult with the cover the trees provided. It was just strange that they seemed to be getting away without much of a resistance.

"Is some thing wrong?" Chuck asked as he noticed the worried expression on Sarah's face.

"No...I just think we should keep moving," Sarah lied. She didn't want to worry Chuck by telling him that she felt like something was off. Instead she took Chuck's hand and pulled him along behind her as she started jogging again.

---

The Doctor had woken in a bed in the infirmary for the second time that morning. The room seemed to be buzzing with activity around him as if everyone in the room was on edge. He had already noticed the anxiety present in the young agent who had taken his statement during the brief time he had previously been awake, but it now seemed as if everyone had now grown just as nervous. That could only mean one thing. The director must have arrived. Dr. Williams, decided that his aching head had rested enough and slowly sat up causing the pounding in his head to worsen. He reached for the back of his head and felt the large egg shaped bump that protruded from it. Whoever had hit him the previous night had got their money's worth. He had racked his brain when he first woke that morning for any clue as to who it was that had struck him. His initial fears were that somehow Fulcrum had been able to penetrate the facility and had come for Chuck. He had tried to attain as much information as possible from the agent that had questioned him, but the agent was either unwilling or unable to provide him with any answers.

As the Doctor sat rubbing his head, the door to the large room swung open revealing the Director who then strode quickly to side of his bed.

"Director Graham, any news as to who had struck me last night?" the doctor asked as he swung his legs off of the side of the bed.

"What were you doing here at such an hour Dr. Williams?" the Director ignored the Doc's question.

"I was here to check on my patient. In case you have forgotten, you forced him to flash against my medical opinion, he was shot at and nearly blown up, and then he was nearly kidnapped. I was worried that that kind of stress may be too much for his brain to handle so soon."

"So you have no idea who could have helped Bartowski escape then?"

"Wait, the Intersect is gone! Did Fulcrum get him?" Fear washed over the Doctor.

"_Bartowski _is gone," the Director emphasized the use of Chuck's name as he looked around at all the other people mulling about. He then stared hard at the Doctor speaking softly as to not be overheard, "What would make you think that Fulcrum would know who the intersect is, let alone where to find him?"

The doctor nervously looked at the floor before returning his gaze to the Director, "I had just assumed that they would be the only ones to come after him."

The Director was not convinced but any further questions were avoided when the young agent whom had reported to Graham earlier came rushing into the room. "Director Graham! I just received notification of a problem outside of the compound." Graham stared at the young man without saying a word. The agent took this as his que to continue, "A group of agents were tracking the escapee and what appeared to be one other person. They had been able to follow the tracks for about an hour but then the tracks just disappeared. The group separated in order to try to find the tracks again, but when they did they were attacked. The last communication we received was from an agent stating that the rest of the group had been tranq'ed. That was nearly twenty minutes ago. We have been unable to reach that agent or anyone else since that time."

The Director turned one last glare at the Doctor. When he was satisfied that the surprise on the doctor's face was legitimate he turned and briskly walked towards the door, "Get me a chopper! I will lead the search myself. It looks as if we are not the only ones after the prisoner."

---

Chuck could not remember a time when he was more excited to hear the sounds of passing traffic. He and Sarah were now standing just inside the tree line next to the interstate. Chuck had started to make his way out of the trees when Sarah stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Chuck wait one second."

"What's wrong Sarah?"

"We are going to want to get a ride as fast as possible once we get out there. The CIA is bound to have agents out looking for us. We don't want to give them any more of a chance to see us than we need to.

"Oookay," Chuck dragged out the word in confusion. "I understand that, but what I don't understand is why you seem so hesitant. All we have to do is go hitch a ride."

"Chuck look at us," Sarah said as she gestured at the two of them. Chuck looked down and realized what she was saying. They were both filthy and covered in sweat.

"Point taken. So what do we do?"

"Well, I could get the attention of a passing driver, but I wanted to make sure that you were going to be okay with that."

"Wait you are looking for my permission to flirt our way into a ride," Chuck smiled.

"No, I am not exactly the ask for permission type, more like respecting your opinion," Sarah responded seriously.

Chuck continued to smile, "Sarah I have had to watch you do a lot more than show some leg to get a ride, why would this be any different?"

"It is different Chuck, because I am no longer an agent and we are...well you know...together."

Chuck was somewhat baffled with Sarah's reasoning but was so happy to hear her speaking about them being together that he could not help but tease her a little. "Woo now, let's not go rushing into anything. I mean I don't remember ever talking about being exclusive or anything." Sarah's eyes went wide as she failed to see the humor in Chuck's joke. Immediately Chuck saw the fear in her eyes. "Just playing Sarah, we are absolutely exclusive, as long as that is what you want that is. I mean that is what I want so I hope that you do too. I was just making a dumb joke..."

As usual Chuck's rambling worked its charming magic on Sarah as she visibly relaxed and shook her head. Chuck noticed that she had relaxed as well, "So joking about our relationship is off limits, got it."

Sarah spoke softly enough that Chuck barely heard her as she started to turn away from him, "You've got it if you know what's good for you."

Sarah grabbed her sleeves just below the seam at the shoulder and yanked, tearing the sleeves off and revealing the flawless skin of her arms. She then unbuttoned the top of the shirt to a nearly dangerous level, and tied the bottom of her shirt up revealing her well defined lower abs. Finally she pulled her large field knife from her belt and cut the legs of her pants into shorts that reminded Chuck of daisy dukes.

"Wow," Chuck said to himself, though Sarah overheard.

"Glad you like," Sarah winked.

"Let's just say I don't think we are going to have any problem getting a ride now," Chuck said in awe causing Sarah to blush ever so slightly before leaning in to kiss Chuck. She had intended it to be a quick peck on the lips, and yet she found herself being pulled into something much deeper. They were both near the point of no return when Sarah heard the sound of an approaching truck. She quickly pulled herself away and smiled at the dumbfounded Chuck, "time to go," she said as she exited the tree line and stuck out her thumb, leaving Chuck to groan uncomfortably at the interruption.

Chuck had been right; it did not take long for them to get a ride. Sarah had made it to the side of the road just in time for approaching truck's driver to catch a glimpse of her. He nearly caused an accident as he slammed on the brakes or his tractor trailer and pulled over to the side of the road. Sarah jogged down to the truck and climbed up to the now open passenger side door.

"Well hello there pretty thing. You look like you could use a ride?" the driver practically drooled on himself as he talked to Sarah without ever making eye contact.

"That would be so nice of you," Sarah said shyly as she batted her eyelashes.

"Well hop on in, I'll take you anywhere you need to go..." the truck driver's thought trailed off as he saw Sarah wave Chuck from the tree line. "Who is that there, pretty lady?"

Sensing the displeasure in the driver's voice Sarah turned up the flirting, "Oh that is just my nerdy little brother. I hope that is okay. I would be sooo appreciative if you could give us a ride into the city." Sarah had leaned forward a little while talking to give the driver a better view of her cleavage.

The driver never stood a chance, "Ah, of course it's okay. What kind of man would I be if I left a pretty young thing like you out here along the side of the road with no one suitable out here to protect you?"

Chuck who had reached the truck in time to hear the driver's last comment rolled his eyes as he climbed into the truck, "_This is going to be interesting_," he thought to himself.

---


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry about a couple brief bouts of language in this chapter, nothing too bad though. I have two more chapters finished so they should be up soon. I would like you opinion though. I have some stuff about the good people of buy moria and Ellie mixed through those chapters. Would you guys prefer that that be a separate chapter on its own or mixed in. It has nothing to do with Chuck and Sarah's "mission". **

**Chapter 21**

"Status report!" the director demanded.

"Progress has been slow Sir. They have covered their tracks well and the booby traps have set us back...Sir."

"Booby traps?"

"Yes Sir, there have been a number of non-lethal traps scattered randomly throughout the woods. They have slowed our progress substantially."

"Non lethal you say?"

"Yes sir, no major injuries have been incurred. There have been some flash bangs that temporarily disoriented our men as well as other traps attached to trip wires or hidden in the ground cover," Director Graham listened thoughtfully as the agent spoke. "But nothing serious, is that of importance Sir?"

"Which way were they heading before you lost their trail?" the Director ignored the question.

"They were heading east, but if they took the time to set up the traps they could not have gotten too much of a head start."

"I don't think they _were_ the ones to set the traps."

"AAHHH!" the screams of an agent twenty feet to the Director's right interrupted his thoughts, as he turned to see the man was dangling from a tree branch, his ankle caught in a rope.

The Director shook his head at the pathetic sight of the agent hanging upside down. "Enough of these games, the only thing to the east of here is the interstate. Instead of wasting our time here take most of the men and head out to the interstate. Leave a small contingent here to continue looking for the tracks." The Director turned and stalked away. "I want Bartowski and anyone who is with him found...and cut him down for crying out loud," he yelled as he gestured toward the upside down agent without looking back.

---

"So what brings such a pretty girl to the big city of D.C.?" the driver asked with a smile.

"My brother and I are here to see the sights," Sarah lied with a smile of her own.

"Well it seems like the two of you have gone through some trouble just to see the sights," the driver looked at Chuck for the first time, taking in his disheveled state.

"Well our car broke down a ways back. We decided to take a short cut through the woods to get to the interstate and got lost for a little while," Sarah came to Chuck's rescue when he looked at her nervously.

"You two sure you don't want me to take you back to your car and call a tow truck then?"

"Thanks anyways, but we just need to get to the city. We have some family there that will be able to help us out from there."

"Whatever you say," the portly man shrugged.

Most of the ride went smoothly with friendly conversation between the driver and Sarah. The driver ended up not being as creepy as Chuck had feared, though he still hardly showed any sign at all that he even remembered Chuck was in the rig. All in all, besides being somewhat of a horn dog, the guy seemed pretty nice.

As the truck came around a bend in the highway about 30 minutes outside of the city traffic came to a complete stop. "Well I have seen some bad traffic in D.C. but never this bad," the driver commented as he sank back in his seat grabbing his CB radio from above his right shoulder. "Breaker 1-9, breaker 1-9. This here is Hounddog my 20 is half hour outside Bullshit City at a stand still. Anyone got their ears on, come back?"

"Hey, Hey, Hounddog, this is Big Joe from Chocolate town. I am stuck in the same mess you are. It looks like some kinda Checkpoint Charlie. And these bears mean business. They got boys scouts, local Yokels, and even an astronaut buzzin' round."

Sarah turned a confused look to Chuck who explained what had just happened, "Hounddog here just asked if there was anyone out there listening and told them that we are stuck in traffic half an hour outside of D.C. Big Joe, from Hershey PA. aka chocolate town, responded saying that there is some kind of road-block ahead with State cops, local cops and a helicopter."

Hounddog looked Chuck with a surprise evident in his smile, "Not too bad kid."

Sarah's expression turned from confused to awestruck as she whispered, "Did you flash or something?"

"No, I just sort of know the lingo." when both the other occupants just stared at him Chuck continued, "When I was little I saw the movie Smokey and the Bandit. After that my dad and I built a CB radio together so I could talk to the truckers outside of LA."

"Would have never put you as a CB talkin rugrat from Shakeyotwn," Hounddog continued to look impressed causing Chuck to just nod shyly in response.

"Chuck you said something about a roadblock," Sarah looked hard into Chuck's eyes to get her message across.

"Ooohh, oh ya. Umm...Hounddog can you ask Big Joe if he sees anything out of the ordinary, like other than the police at this roadblock?"

"Umm...sure thing kid," Hounddog hesitated and looked questioningly at Chuck. "10-4 on the checkpoint charlie big Joe. Does it look like there is anyone other than the smokeys up ahead?"

"Good guess back there Hounddog, looks like there are some suits playin bear trainer today."

Sarah looked at Chuck guessing what Big Joe had meant. Chuck nodded confirming her fears.

Hounddog saw this interaction and also saw the reassuring squeeze that Sarah gave Chuck's hand. "10-4, Big Joe. Thanks for the bear story. Catch ya on the Flip side, I'm gone." Hounddog set the mike for his CB down on his leg and turned to look at the couple in the truck with him. "Now I'm not saying that seeing the sights in the city ain't nice and all, but are you sure now is the best time to be goin'," he spoke without any threat in his voice.

"Well...I would understand if you changed your mind about giving us a ride..."

Hounddog cut Chuck off mid sentence, "Now why would I want to go and kick two nice young people, that are just on their way to the city for some sight seeing, out of my truck when there could be trouble out there," he finished with a wink.

"Thank you Hounddogg," Chuck said with a smile.

"No thanks necessary. However, _hitch-hiking _is illegal so I think it would be best if the two of you hop up into the sleeper once we get closer to those big bad bears, you understand what I am sayin'?" Sarah and Chuck just nodded quietly in response. "Good."

It took quite a while for the traffic to make its way slowly through the checkpoint. eventually Hounddog's truck was only a few hundred feet from the checkpoint. Chuck and Sarah had already climbed into the sleeper of the truck and pulled the curtain closed.

"Now might be a good time to get our plan together. Chances are they are going to want to take a look in the sleeper when we get to the checkpoint. Fortunately for us there happens to be a false bottom underneath that mattress back there." Hounddog smiled when Chuck opened the curtain and looked at him questioningly. "Hey I won't ask questions if you don't ask questions," he said with a mischievous smile.

"Fair enough," Chuck said as he shut the curtain and helped Sarah lift the mattress revealing an area they could both lie in. They both climbed in and pulled the mattress back over top of them. Chuck made sure that he did not end up in a position similar to the one in the laundry cart. With the way Sarah was currently dressed that would be nothing short of torture.

"You two stay real quiet back there. I will take care of the rest," Hounddog said as he pulled out his cell phone. "Hey there Betsy girl."

"Hounddog! How you doin suga'?"

"Good, Good, Hey I was wonderin', you wouldn't have happened to have just passed a checkpoint Charlie on your way out of Bullshit City would you?"

"Actually I did, that stinkin' thing put me way behind."

"I thought I recognized that rig of yours."

"Well if you saw my rig why did you use your cell instead of the radio?"

"I know those bears from that Checkpoint are probably listening, in fact I am counting on it, anyway Betsy, honey, I need you to do me a favor."

---

A state policeman waved for Hounddogg to pull his truck off to the side of the road. All of the other large trucks had been instructed to do the same. A team of policeman and men in suits made their way through each truck as if they were looking for something. Hounddogg had a pretty good idea what.

"Out of the truck, Sir," an officer yelled up to Hounddogg. "Can you please open the back of your truck for us?"

"Sure thing mister, what are you looking for?" Hounddogg asked as he walked to the back of the truck and opened the doors.

"That is a matter of national security," two other officers climbed into the truck and searched through its contents. One of them yelled from in the truck that it seemed clean.

The officer lead Hounddog back to the front of the truck as the two other officers prepared to search the cab of the truck. "Officer, I don't have a problem with you takin a look at my rig, but don't you need a warrant for this?"

The officer turned an angry eye at the driver before answering, "In matter of national security that is not always the case." He did not elaborate any further.

"Sir there seems to be a large locked compartment above the sleeper," one of the officers yelled down from the truck.

Hounddogg didn't give them a chance to ask, "That is just my personal items, but I would be happy to open it up for you," he said as he climbed into the cab and opened the lock on the compartment. As he was exiting the cab of the truck, Hounddog reached over and keyed the mike of his CB three times quickly without being noticed.

Two seconds later a female voice came loud and clear over the radio, "Wo Momma, you boys leaving D.C. are going to be falling all over yourselves to pick-up the two hitch-hikers about 3 miles West of that Checkpoint. Some blond bombshell showin' what God gave her. Too bad for you guys she has some tall lanky guy with her."

The officers in the truck immediately looked at each other and then hastily got out of the truck. It was clear from the commotion coming from other policeman that they had not been the only ones to hear the broadcast. Hounddog watched as the officers ran away from his truck, jumped into a cruiser, and tore off up the median heading west.

"Hey, if that blond is as hot as they say, you tell her I will give her a ride anywhere," Hounddog chuckled and looked at the last officer standing nearby. "Whoever said that the D.C. policemen aren't friendly, they couldn't wait to help that poor girl out if you know what I mean," Hounddog winked at the cop in a conspiratorial manner.

The officer just rolled his eyes, "You are free to go. Get this rig out of here."

Hounddog did just that, climbing into his truck and driving away with a very large smile on his face the entire time.

---


	22. Chapter 22

**This chapter was just for fun for me. It has nothing to do with furthering Chuck and Sarah's adventures. That being the case I am going to post chapter 23 at the same time. I have up through chapter 25 written (just needs to be cleaned up), with Chapter 26 up next as a sorta kinda epilogue and probably the last of my Chuck story. **

**Chapter 22**

Never in his life had he felt this alone, this melancholy, this...bored. Morgan had been lying on Chuck's bedroom floor for going on an hour. He had just stopped by to grab some games while Chuck was out of town. Ellie had told him that Chuck had been taken to another hospital for tests on his surgically repaired brain, but that he was going to be just fine. Morgan was relieved to hear that that had been the reason why Chuck had not been home or returning any of his calls, but he was seriously starting to go into best-friend withdrawal. Things with Anna had been going well for a change, but that just wasn't the same. So instead of grabbing the games and heading out Morgan somehow ended up lying on the floor wallowing in his loneliness.

From his position he could see out Chuck's slightly ajar bedroom door. Ellie was home and moving around the apartment. She had not been as upset today as she had been the last couple days, but she was clearly still on edge as evident by the fact that she was preparing to eat cereal for dinner. Seeing her agitated movements brought Morgan from his reverie. She needed his help. She was lost in a relationship that was not satisfying her, as proven by her search of the personals, and she didn't have Chuck around to help her. Morgan decided that it was going to be his job to help Ellie, after all Chuck had been like a brother to him so it would only be natural for Morgan to take over Chuck's brotherly responsibilities while he was away. This new purpose gave Morgan something else to focus on besides his loneliness and immediately lifted his spirits. _Yes that is exactly what I need to do. I am going to help Ellie find Mrs. Right. _

Morgan climbed to his feet and walked into the kitchen of the apartment. Ellie had no idea that anyone else was even in the apartment with her, so hearing someone walk up behind her caused her quite a scare. She jumped and turned to see who was there dropping the carton of milk she had been holding in the process.

"Ah!"

"AAHH!" Morgan, surprised by Ellie's sudden scream, yelled in return.

"MORGAN! What are you doing here?" Ellie asked as she placed a hand over her chest.

"Sorry Ellie, I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just came over to get some games from Chuck and..."

Ellie did not allow him to finish his explanation, "Oh look at that," she said as she looked down at the small puddle of milk lying on the floor. "And it is all your fault!" she said as she turned a heated stare at Morgan.

"Ellie it is just a little spilled milk, and you know what they say," Morgan had gotten a small smile on his face that immediately faded when he saw Ellie's lack of appreciation for his humor. "You know it is my fault. Let me get that for you," he said as he grabbed a dish towel from the counter and started to bend towards the milk.

"No! I think you have done quite enough. Why don't you just go? I will be sure to have Chuck call...," Ellie could not finish as she broke into tears.

Morgan stood there dumbfounded for a moment, not knowing what to do. Finally he stepped forward and lightly placed his arms around Ellie and was surprised when she welcomed the embrace placing her head on his shoulder. "Ellie are you sure that everything is alright?"

"No, I am not sure about much of anything anymore." Ellie sobbed.

"What can I do to help?" Morgan offered softly.

Ellie gathered herself and took a step back, wiping tears from her eyes, "There is nothing you can do. I'll be fine. I am just a little emotional right now."

"Hey, hey, it is alright, no need for explanations," Morgan smiled. "You know what, since i just made you spill the last of the milk it looks like the cereal for dinner plan is ruined, and you know what day it is." When Ellie looked questioningly at Morgan he continued, "Tuesday, You know sizzling shrimp day. I know that you have never really been that big of a fan but since Chuck isn't around it might be a nice reminder...." Morgan realized that something he said had caused Ellie to start to tear up again so he changed his course quickly, "fun! It could be a lot of fun."

Ellie looked at the hopeful smile that Morgan gave her and thought of the countless times that Chuck had explained how good of a friend Morgan can be, "Devon _is_ working late...and I do need to eat something."

"Yes you do," Morgan tried to hide his excitement as Ellie actually considered his idea.

"Fine, Okay. Let me get my purse."

"Great!" Morgan nearly screamed earning him a glance from Ellie. Morgan merely shrugged and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. As soon as Ellie was out of sight he pulled out his phone and started texting madly. He was going to need some back-up for this one.

---

Ellie and Morgan arrived at the restaurant a short time later. Morgan walked to the table with Ellie but didn't sit down when she did. "I will be right back, just need to use the little boy's room," he said as he quickly walked towards the restrooms occasionally looking back at Ellie as he went. When he was sure that she was not watching him, which she really had not been doing the entire time, he made his way to the small area separating the kitchen from the dining room. Waiting for him there was Anna as well as Jeff and Lester.

"You had better have a very good explanation why you would take Ellie out on a date and then text your girlfriend for help." Anna stood with her arms crossed on her chest and a scowl firmly in place.

"Yeah man, I mean props on finally getting Ellie to go out with you, but not smart to tell your girl about it," Lester added.

"First of all Anna banana, this is not a date. Second of all why are dumb and dumber here?" Morgan asked pointing at Jeff and Lester.

"I got you text while I was picking up my pay check at the Buymore and they may have overheard me reading it." Anna's posture did not ease.

"Over heard you read it?!? I am pretty sure the people in the Large-Mart heard your scream," Jeff huffed.

Anna turned her glare at him causing him to step behind Lester who remained smiling, "When she filled us in on what was up we had to come watch her tear the limbs from your body."

"Sorry to disappoint, but there will be no limb tearing today." Morgan replied earning a "huh" from Anna. "Okay I hope that after I explain what is going on that my lovely Anna will decide that there is no need for any limb tearing today."

"Fine, explain yourself," Anna rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so Ellie has been acting all weird lately," Morgan started.

"Uh, couldn't that have something to do with her brother nearly dying and then leaving for god knows how long to have his melon scoped?" Lester asked.

"Let me finish. The other day I caught her looking at the personals."

"Ah trouble in paradise," Jeff nodded in understanding.

"So you thought now was a good time to make your move on Ellie?" Anna's anger began to grow again.

"No! Will you all please let me finish?" When no one spoke Morgan continued, "When Ellie was looking at the personals there seemed to be one that really caught her attention. It was from a tall blond _FEMALE_." Morgan stopped to give the information time to sink in.

Anna's jaw dropped in response as she took a step to the side where she could see Ellie sitting at the table. Jeff and Lester stood silent for a second not quite realizing what the big deal was before suddenly understanding.

"NOOO WAAAYY!" They loudly said in unison.

"Will you two keep it down?" Morgan shushed them.

"Are you sure?" Anna asked without a bit of anger left in her voice.

"I am positive. She had that specific one circled." Morgan explained. "I thought that, since Chuck isn't around to help her, that you and I could help her out," he said as he looked at Anna.

Anna looked back at Ellie with a twinkle in her eye, "Interesting."

---

A minute later Morgan arrived back at the table where Ellie was looking at a menu. "Sorry, I got a call from Anna while I was gone. She is going to stop by to have dinner with us, if you don't mind that is."

"Really? I mean that is fine, I just didn't think that Anna liked me all that much."

"What is not to like? Your smart, funny, a great cook, beautiful...okay she may have been a little jealous of you at first but not any more."

"What changed?"

"I finally convinced her that I am over you, and completely committed to our relationship."

"Okaayy," Ellie was not so sure that he was being completely truthful.

"Anna," Morgan said as he stood from his chair only seconds later. He leaned in to give her a kiss only to have her turn her head causing his kiss to land on her cheek. Anna, not paying any attention to Morgan whatsoever, turned to Ellie and leaned down wrapping her arms around her, "Ellie it is so nice to see you again."

Ellie was quite surprised by Anna's hug, "Hi Anna, it is nice to see you too."

Morgan jumped back into the conversation by offering his chair to Anna, "Anna I didn't think you would get here this quickly. Here you can have my chair."

Anna pulled up a different chair to Ellie's right side at the small table for two, "Thanks anyway Morgan, but I think I will sit over here next to Ellie." Anna then turned her attention back to the tall brunette sitting next to her. "Ellie you look great. Just the other day I was telling Morgan just how pretty you always look."

Morgan's jaw dropped, though he quickly recovered and nodded in agreement when Ellie looked from Anna to him.

"Thank you Anna. That is very sweet of you," Ellie replied hesitantly. "You look very nice yourself. I have always thought that the colors in your hair were so much fun."

Anna's face beamed at the compliment, "Thank you so much. That means a lot coming from a woman like you." Anna finished with a sultry tone to her voice that further confused Ellie.

"Well look who we have here," Lester said cheerfully as he and Jeff walked past the table, apparently surprised to find Morgan, Anna, and Ellie at the restaurant, at least it appeared so to Ellie. "Jeff, would you believe that we just happened to run into our best buddy Chuck's beautiful sister Ellie on our break. And on top of that she is here with Morgan and Anna."

"What are the odds," Jeff played along.

"We should all eat together," Lester said as he pulled another chair up to the already crowded table, seating himself immediately to Ellie's left.

Jeff nearly knocked Morgan to the floor as he pulled a chair of his own to the table. "The only thing better than cheap Chinese food is cheap Chinese food with pretty ladies at the table, is what I always say."

Morgan tried to regain control of the situation, "Guys this table is a little small, and we were hoping to have a quiet meal just the three of us..."

Lester, completely ignoring Morgan, turned and continued speaking to Ellie, "You know Jeff and I were just talking about you the other day," Ellie held her breath fearing where this conversation was heading. "We were talking about how making such a big change in your life can be so difficult."

Ellie relaxed a small amount, "It really is not that hard when you know deep down it is what you want," Ellie explained thinking that Lester had been talking about getting married.

Jeff and Lester both giggled like two young girls in excitement, before Lester continued, "Well if you are sure that this is what you want then there is someone we would like to introd...Ouch!" At the exact same time Anna and Morgan had both kicked Lester in the shin under the cover of the table.

"Are you o-kay?" Ellie asked, at a complete loss of what was going on.

Morgan jumped in before Lester could respond, "He is fine. We just need a minute to talk. All of us," he said as he looked from Lester to Anna. Morgan stood from his chair followed shortly by Anna and Lester doing the same reluctantly. As the trio started to walk away from the table Jeff slid into the chair closest to Ellie, but before he could say anything Morgan's voice could be heard, "YOU TOO JEFF!"

Once they reached the area separating the kitchen and dining area again Morgan turned to face the others, "What was all that about?"

"How should I know? You two were the ones that kicked me," Lester said as he reached down to rub his leg.

"Maybe you should realize when you are over stepping your bounds." Anna said causing Morgan to nod in agreement. "I have Ellie completely taken care of."

Morgan stopped nodding, "Wait! What? No...Everybody stop. You two," he said pointing to Lester and Jeff, "need to leave Ellie out of your perverted little dreams. Trust me anything you think you can pull off, you can't."

Morgan turned next to Anna, who had been smiling as he berated the other two, "And you, were you not just yelling at me ten minutes ago about me being with you and not with Ellie. You may as well be cheating on me back there..." Morgan had looked back into the dining area as he finished his statement to Anna. When he did so he saw that Ellie had left, leaving the table empty.

"Great, she left. You three just ruined her only chance at happiness. I hope you can live with yourselves," he said dejectedly as he stalked away.

---


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N Chapter 22 is going to be posted at the same time as 23. It is a chapter about those back in Burbank. I have through chapter 25 written (just needs to be cleaned up). Chapter 26 will be the completion of the storage or an epilogue or sorts, and probably the end of my Chuck story. Also let's here it for Yvonne being 18****th**** on the hottest Hollywood spies of all time list. **

**Chapter 23**

Hounddog's truck came to a stop in a small section of D.C. that was surrounded by apartment complexes. As Chuck climbed down from the truck Sarah leaned over and gave the driver a peck on his scruffy cheek, "Thank you, Hounddog."

Hounddog actually blushed slightly before nodding, "Like I said before, no thanks are necessary. I never did meet a smokey that had his story straight. Besides, I have always been able to read people. As far as I am concerned you two are as good as they come, just don't you go making a liar out of me."

"We won't," Chuck said as he helped Sarah down from the truck. They both gave the driver a small wave as Chuck shut the door.

"So where to now," Chuck asked as he and Sarah watched the truck pull away.

"Actually, we need to get cleaned up and get some supplies so we are going to go to my apartment," Sarah couldn't hide the excitement behind her smile.

"Your apartment? Reeaallly? So I am going to get to see where Sarah Walker lives when she is not on a mission?"

"Not exactly," Sarah saw the disappointment in Chuck's face so she continued quickly. "As far as the CIA is concerned this apartment doesn't exist. It is a safe place I have kept for quite a while. I really don't go there very often so no one would find out about it."

"I guess that makes sense. So where is this place?" Chuck's tone was still a little muted reflecting his disappointment.

Sarah didn't press the issue, instead pointing at the building just behind Chuck's left shoulder. It was an average to slightly less than average looking building. The kind of building that would be hard to pick out if you weren't exactly sure which one you were looking for. Sarah led Chuck into the building and to the top of the stair case at the fourth floor. "Here it is," she said as she unlocked the door.

Chuck walked into the large apartment and looked around. Sarah stayed back allowing Chuck to check out the place, content in just watching him. It is not what I had imagined," Chuck said as he walked into the small bedroom of the apartment.

"So you have imagined being in my bedroom then?" Sarah asked with a mischievous smile.

"No, well yes, I mean that is not what I meant," Chuck smiled sheepishly. "What I mean is it seems kind of..."

"Bare," Sarah helped causing Chuck to nod in agreement.

"You don't even have any pictures on the wall. I had even prepared myself to see pictures of you and Bryce together or some other ex-boyfriend."

"I know you had this image of seeing my home and learning more about who I was before I met you so I am sorry if it is not what you were hoping for. But this apartment is actually fitting for just that reason. It is bare and lifeless. There are no memories or personal touches that make you feel at home here. Chuck that is what my life was like, even before I joined the CIA. I haven't had a true home since my mom died. My dad and I hopped from one place to the next, and each time felt less and less like home. Since then I have never really considered anywhere home. I don't think I even knew what a home was made of. That was until I met you. I saw that you had a wonderful home from the very start, but then you and your family invited me in and made me part of that home." Sarah looked at her feet. She was normally so confident, but talking about her feelings always made her feel so weak, scared, and inadequate.

Sarah had been speaking so quickly that Chuck hadn't had a chance to get a word out, so instead he wordlessly wrapped Sarah in his arms giving her the strength to continue. "We are to the point where I will tell you anything you want to know about my life before I came to Burbank, but as far as I am concerned that is when my life really began."

This was the most open Sarah had ever been about her past, and Chuck realized that there no more secrets between them. But all the questions that had eaten at him for so long faded from his mind. He knew everything he needed to know to love her.

Chuck smiled and then looked around again, "The best thing about blank walls is that there is plenty of room to fill them with new memories."

Sarah smiled at Chuck and held him close, "and if it makes you feel any better I never brought Bryce or anyone else here for that matter." This caused Chuck to smile even more brightly before leaning in to press his lips to hers. Just like along the highway the kiss started off tender but progressed quickly into a deep and passionate kiss. Sarah leaned forward causing Chuck to loose his balance and stumble against the wall behind him, although his arms never left their position around her waist and his lips never left hers. Sarah moved her hands from the back of Chuck's neck up, running her fingers through his unruly hair. After what felt like hours, but was actually only a few minutes Sarah pulled away from Chuck while still breathing heavily.

"We don't have time to do this the right way. The unveiling is in two hours. We have to get going." Sarah seemed to be convincing herself as much as she was Chuck.

Chuck knew she was right but that didn't stop him from complaining, "Seriously, forget fulcrum agents or drug kingpins, this is what is going to be the death of me."

"Hey you are the one that wanted to save the world Chuck. If anyone has the right to complain it is me," Sarah replied as she turned and walked away.

---

"So what is the plan," Chuck asked as he fidgeted with the tie Sarah had provided him with.

"We are going to try to get in without being noticed, either by talking our way in or by other means," Chuck knew exactly what she meant as he watched her strap her throwing knives to her leg. "The building has a side entrance that only VIP's know about. We are going to try that route, and stop fidgeting you would think you would be used to a bowtie by now."

"I will never be used to bowties. How did you have a suit in my size anyways? Be honest you have a thing for tall and slightly lanky guys and I am not the first you've dated," Chuck ended with a playful smile.

Sarah reached over and grabbed his tie. "I only have a thing for one tall and very lanky guy," she said as she tightened the tie a little more than necessary. "Maybe someday you'll get to meet him," she said as she winked and turned her back to Chuck, checking herself in the mirror.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Chuck grinned. "Seriously, where did this suit come from?"

"I always have everything I could possibly need if I would need to go off the grid for a while. A little while back I added some things for you just in case you needed to come along with me." Sarah glanced into Chuck's eyes through the reflection in the mirror.

Chuck smiled knowing that she had been planning their escape together for some time now. When Sarah turned her gaze back to her own reflection and continued to get ready Chuck continued to question their plan.

"So we get inside somehow and then...?" he asked as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Chuck I would love to tell you that I have some great plan, but I don't. Just like at the compound we are going to have to be able to think on the fly. Ultimately we need to get to the car. See if fulcrum still has the bomb in the car, then either disarm the bomb or get it away from the people."

"Piece of cake," Chuck replied sarcastically as he dropped his hands to his sides.

"We could just call it in but the only two people that would believe us when we explain how we know there is a bomb would be Beckman and Graham." Sarah said as she turned to face Chuck once more.

"And we don't know if we can trust them," Chuck sighed.

"Unfortunately, no...we don't."

Chuck took a deep breath then stood a little taller, "I guess we don't really have any other option then. We have an unveiling to crash."

---

Chuck and Sarah arrived at the large convention center approximately half an hour before the event was set to begin, arriving by taxi around the rear of the building. As Sarah had anticipated there were secret service agents surrounding every entrance including the VIP entrance at the side of the building.

"Chuck, just act confident, like we are supposed to be here," Sarah said as she and Chuck approached the two agents standing guard at the VIP entrance.

"Sure confident," Chuck replied in a voice that was anything but.

"Hello gentlemen," Sarah said warmly to the agents. "We are here for the event today." While speaking to the men Sarah had reached into her purse for the taser she had hidden there.

"Names please?" the agent requested as he looked down at a clipboard he was holding.

Chuck spoke up for the first time, "Carmichael, Charles Carmichael and this is my girlfriend Sarah."

As the two agents looked down at the paper again Sarah started to move behind them to be in position to take them out. She pulled the taser from her purse and was just about to press it to the first agents back when he responded, "Here it is. Charles Carmichael and...It is listed as your fiancé."

Sarah quickly put the hand holding the taser behind her back and laughed, "He is always forgetting that we are engaged now," Sarah slid the taser back into the purse hanging from her shoulder before showing her left hand to the agents. "He hasn't even gotten me a ring yet," she smiled and playfully elbowed Chuck in the ribs.

The agents smiled at Sarah and then looked at Chuck shaking his head, "Mister I don't know how you were lucky enough to get her, but I wouldn't wait too long on that ring if I were you." The agents both stepped to the side and opened the door for the couple to enter. Sarah reached out and took Chuck's elbow pulling him through the door with her. He had been standing there with a confused expression on his face since the agents announced that they were on the list.

As the door shut behind them Chuck turned to Sarah and opened his mouth, but before he could speak she answered his question, "Don't question good fortune Chuck, we will worry about the details later."

Chuck did not see the knowing smile that Sarah had as she led him down the hallway toward the main room, neither one of them having noticed the person watching them enter from parking garage across the street.

---


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

The loud _BANG_ of a fist slamming down on the roof of the car caused everyone near by to turn their attention to the large angry man standing alongside an unmarked police cruiser. The Director had just received word that the hitch-hikers described over the radio could not be found, nor was anyone matching that description found at any of the roadblocks. Knowing that their window for capturing Chuck on or near the highway had been missed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, "This is Director Graham of the CIA. I need a secure line to General Beckman of the NSA immediately."

A few seconds later the General answered, "Any news on Bartowski?" She skipped all pleasantries due to the fact that she was still angry that the CIA had lost the intersect in the first place.

"Nothing, though it seems he is not traveling alone."

"Walker?" the General guessed.

"There is no way to know for sure, but I would be willing to bet on it."

"If he is with Walker our chances of finding him now are next to zero," the edge in the general's voice showed her frustration. The director did not need to be reminded that Agent Walker was going to be nearly impossible to find and, worse yet, incredibly deadly if they were to find her.

The two department heads sat in silence for a few seconds, each gathering their thoughts. Director Graham was the first to have the pieces begin to come together; the image of Chuck acting as if he was giving a tour of the building as they took him down to his room, the way he act strangely while listening to some broadcast about an electric car unveiling; the same unveiling that the President himself was going to be at. Someone was listening to them. Chuck was trying to convey a message to someone. "General, I will follow-up on some possible leads here in D.C. while you arrange for a surveillance team to be placed on Bartowski's family just incase he contacts them. We may have a shot at finding them yet." The director hung up the phone and picked up his radio.

---

Doctor Williams stood alongside one of the CIA SUV's while the other agents were all searching for any sign of Chuck. Despite his inactivity he was sweating profusely as he checked his watch every few minutes. He was not surprised when his phone vibrated notifying him of an incoming call, the caller id flashing an unknown number. "Hello," the doctor answered nervously.

"Hello Dr. Williams," the cold and calm voice from the other end of the line responded. "I know that you are a busy man so I will not keep you long. I just wanted to confirm our dinner plans for tonight. The reservation is for three at 6 o'clock."

"I...I, um, would love to, but some things have come up at work..."

The cold voice interrupted the doctor, "Oh doctor I really must _insist_ that you keep these plans. I would hate to imagine the trouble that it would cause everyone if you tried to reschedule. I will see you later just as we planned," and with that the phone went dead.

The Doctor looked around in a panic, trying to formulate some kind of plan, when he heard the director come across the radio ordering a team of agents to head to the convention center downtown ASAP. There was something in his tone that told the Doctor that the Director was on to something, and right now anything this important to the Director had to involve the intersect.

---

Chuck and Sarah made their way into the large auditorium. The seats toward the front of the room were already filled with members of the press in hopes that they would be able to ask the President a question. The very large isles running between the sections of seats down to the stage were also filled with people mingling about. The Stage at the front of the room was large with a heavy curtain drawn closed. There was a large staircase in the middle of the stage just next to where the members of the press were seated, as well as two smaller sets of stairs on each side of the stage. Each staircase had two Secret Service agents guarding it.

"We need to get behind that curtain and check out the car," Sarah stated as she casually looked around for any other route backstage.

"Are you going to go flirt with those guys so that we can get backstage?" Chuck asked innocently.

"Is that the only thing you think I do?" Sarah asked, pretending to be perturbed at Chuck.

"What! No, of course not, what I meant was...I almost feel bad for them...you know. It really just isn't fair since you are so beautiful and smart and..."

"Relax Chuck I was just joking with you," Sarah grinned. "But I will say that was a pretty good recovery." Chuck just shook his head with a small smile. "Besides I have a better idea. Stay right here," Sarah said before she turned and walked toward a lively group still standing in the isle.

The group was actually a single heavy set man surrounded by people asking him questions. As Sarah approached one of the reporters asked the man why he was at the unveiling. "I am not here to start any trouble. I was in town and merely wanted to see what the tree hugging liberals had embraced as their next cause of the day. It seems as if they are still trying to convince the American people that these electric cars are any better for the environment than the cars already sitting in their driveways."

Sarah made her way through the semicircle of people and within a few feet of the man before she spoke, "Hello Sir. My name is Sarah, and I just wanted to say thank you for being a voice for the Conservatives in our nation. Your radio show has proven to be the last true source for quality news information in the media today."

The man reached out and took her hand, obviously pleased to receive a compliment from a beautiful young woman in front of all the press. "Thank you my dear."

"Would it be too much trouble to have my picture taken with you sir," Sarah asked politely as she handed a small camera to a man standing near by.

"Of course not," the man smiled for the camera, and failed to notice the metallic object that Sarah dropped into his jacket pocket.

After the camera flashed Sarah turned and faced the man placing a terrified expression on her face, "GUN! He has a gun in his pocket. I saw it." The flurry of movement was immense. Reporters and onlookers fled for cover while the Secret service agents, who had previously been guarding the nearby stairs, tackled the portly man within seconds. The man was screaming his innocence, but when one of the agents found a small pistol in his jacket pocket his pleas went ignored. Sarah and Chuck quietly made their way up the stairs and behind the curtain while everyone's attention had been elsewhere.

Once hidden behind the curtain Chuck turned to Sarah, "What was that all about?"

"I just have really hated that guy ever since he harassed that football player a couple years back," she smiled brightly, thoroughly enjoying watching the man being taken down by the Secret Service. "Oh but Chuck, don't ever tell Casey about this. He loves listening to that Jackass," Sarah added before completely closing the curtain and leading Chuck over to the electric car.

"Okay Chuck, tell me what you know from the flash," Sarah said as she traced the outline of the drivers door looking for any traps.

"The blueprints for the bomb were very complex, but it looked to me like it was set on a timer. Once the bomb is triggered the timer can not be shut off. I assume they are going to start the timer once they are sure the president is going to be near the car. "Hey! Maybe since there was a perceived threat on the President's life thanks to your quick thinking, he won't make the presentation," Chuck said hopefully.

A voice came from the podium on the other side of the curtain, "Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to ask you to please take your seats. The president will now make a brief appearance as scheduled though he will not be taking any questions. I present to you the President of the United States of America Barack Obama."

"There goes that idea," Chuck sighed.

"Chuck! I found the bomb," Sarah said as she looked under the hood of the car. The bomb was completely integrated into the wiring of the car, with a timer visible on the dash of the car.

"Um Sarah I think the car _is_ the bomb." Chuck said as he joined Sarah at the front of the car. Just then the President could be heard, "Change will not be easy. As we have seen today there will be those that fight us in our attempt to improve the world we live in, but together we can accomplish our goals one step at a time. And with that I would like to present to you the next of those very steps. One that will lead our nation into the future." As he finished the curtain began to open. Sarah quickly shut the hood of the car and pushed Chuck into the driver's seat, "Hide!" she said as she turned to face the crowd pasting a large smile on her face. As soon as the Secret Service agents saw Sarah standing next to the car they began their approach. However, Sarah immediately started acting like one of the Barker Beauties from the price is right, walking around the car acting as if she was meant to be a part of the presentation. The agents all held their positions and the crowd erupted into a thunderous applause that continued for a few moments.

The crowd's loud reception made it difficult for Sarah to hear Chuck, who was frantically trying to get her attention. As soon as the curtain had been opened the timer on the dash had started counting down from 60 seconds. Finally giving up on Sarah hearing him Chuck reached across the car and swung the passenger side door open. Not only did this get Sarah's attention but it got the Secret Service's attention as well. Sarah reacted by jumping into the car, while Chuck hit the accelerator causing the car to lung forward and down the front staircase as Sarah fought to swing her door closed.

Most of the Secret Service agents quickly escorted the President off stage while two agents opened fire on the retreating couple in the stolen car. Chuck ducked his head when he heard the shots being fired barely looking over the steering wheel as he drove. "Please stop shooting the bomb," he nervously yelled as the car began making its way up the large isle between the sections of the seats.

"Excuse me!..._beep beep_... Pardon me!..._beep_…Sorry!" Chuck screamed, in between beeping the horn, causing people that had been standing in the isle to dive out of the way of the approaching vehicle. The last of the people to barely avoid being run down by the little white car was a small group of CIA agents that both Sarah and Chuck recognized from the compound. They had just entered through the large wooden doors separating the main walk way of the building from the auditorium.

"Looks like the Director knows where we are," Chuck said to Sarah as they passed the agents now lying on the floor on either side of the doorway.

"Let's just worry about getting this bomb out of here for right now," Sarah instructed as Chuck turned the car down the walkway toward the main entrance. "When you get outside head for the top of the parking garage next door."

"How am I supposed to get outside?" Chuck asked as he turned a worried glance at Sarah.

Sarah didn't answer with words; instead she reached over and pushed his right leg down harder on the accelerator. "Sarah what...Oh man," Chuck shrieked and ducked his head as the little car crashed through the large glass entrance and into the air as it careened down the few stairs at front of the building, onto the pavement, and straight into the parking garage across the street. Chuck only reacted after the car had already plowed straight through the gate guarding the exit of the garage, turning the wheel of the car and causing the car to climb the ramp to the second floor.

"Chuck, get us to the top floor," Sarah insisted as she looked at the timer which was now down to twenty seconds.

Each floor seemed to take longer as the seconds continued to tick away. Finally the little car burst into the sunlight of the top floor of the parking garage with only seconds left on the timer. Chuck slammed on the brakes causing the car to come sliding to a stop in the middle of the parking area. Both he and Sarah climbed out of the car as quickly as possible running together for cover.

Just as Chuck and Sarah reached a row of cars about 20 feet away the small electric car exploded throwing both debris and bright yellow flames high into the air. The force of the explosion struck Chuck and Sarah before they could take cover behind the other vehicles. Chuck was knocked to the ground landing between two of the cars, while Sarah was less fortunate. She had been thrown head first into the car to Chuck's left, before falling unconscious to the ground next to him.

A/N: I am sorry if this is a little bit cliff hanger for you. Like I said before Chapter 25 and 26 will be the conclusion of the story. Next chapter should be out this weekend. Thanks for the reviews, they really are the best. And for those of you who just lurk (read but don't review) thanks for reading I still appreciate that too.


	25. Chapter 25

**I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the kind words and for reading my stories. I can't believe some of you even liked them :) Please check out Chapter 26 coming in a day or two. It is the conclusion to the story even though MOST of the action wraps up in this chapter. Thanks for pointing out the similarities between the car blowing up and the episode where Chuck saves Morgan. I had completely forgotten about that, but once you reminded me I remembered how much better the actual writers did it. Thanks again.**

**Chapter 25**

Chuck slowly sat up trying to shake the ringing from his ears as he did so. His first action was to check on Sarah who was lying unconscious beside him. His initial panic at seeing her prone form only slightly subsided when he felt a strong pulse in her neck and saw her chest rise and fall evenly as she breathed. Her forehead had a small gash above her left eye where she had struck her head on the car next to them. Chuck turned away from Sarah, his head still fuzzy from the explosion, to make sure that they were not in any immediate danger or that the flames from the explosion had not spread in their direction. All of the vehicles that had been closest to the explosion were on fire now themselves.

Chuck turned back to Sarah and lightly placed his hand on her shoulder. "Come on Sarah, wake up. Come on Sarah we have to get out of here," a hint of desperation was creeping into Chuck's voice. Sarah gave a small moan but did not open her eyes.

"CHUCK! CHUCK!" A voice called grabbing Chuck's attention.

He turned to see an SUV come sliding to a stop between the burning car and him and Sarah. The driver's side window was down with Dr. Williams hanging out the window calling his name. "DOC! Over here!" Chuck waved his arms in the air.

"Chuck! Let's go! We have to get you out of here before the Director finds you!"

"Sarah is hurt, I need to..."

"Chuck! Director Graham is Fulcrum!" the Doc interrupted Chuck.

This finally got Chuck's attention, "What? He can't be. If he is fulcrum why did he never turn me over to them?"

Dr. Williams climbed out of the car and hurriedly approached Chuck, "He just switched sides. The new administration is replacing a lot of the top people in the CIA due to the whole water boarding thing, so he thought now would be a good time to jump ship. I will explain later, right now we need to get you out of here."

"If Graham is Fulcrum then that is all the more reason to get Sarah out of here. You are a doctor you can help her!" Chuck leaned down and went to lift Sarah causing her to stir.

"Chuck we can't trust her, besides there is no time," the Doc reached toward his rear waist band as the sound of approaching sirens grew louder.

---

Approximately 100 feet away a few agents were slowly working their way between the cars in the parking structure. At the front of the group was Director Graham with his gun drawn. As he reached the open air of the top floor he could see the Doctor speaking to Chuck, but could not hear what was being said. He gave the hand signal for the agents to hang back as he increased his speed making a beeline towards the Doc and Chuck while staying low and out of sight.

---

Sarah kept her eyes closed as she regained consciousness. She could hear a conversation between Chuck and another man. Although she was not certain of what all was going on she could tell that the man was trying to take Chuck, and that was all Sarah needed to know. She slowly opened her eyes enough to see what was going on without being noticed. After her eyes adjusted to the light she saw the Doctor standing there with his hand behind his back. It was obvious to Sarah that he was holding a weapon. The man's odd behavior now and at the weigh station was enough for Sarah to decide to take action. From her position she could feel that her gun and knives had fallen from her dress with the impact of her fall. She was already laying with her right arm behind her so neither Chuck nor the Doctor noticed as she slid her hand along the pavement looking for one of her weapons. The first thing she came across was one of the throwing knives.

---

The director was only 20 feet away now, his movement hidden behind a row of cars. He was finally close enough to hear the conversation going on in front of him. The Doctor was trying to convince Chuck that he was Fulcrum and that Chuck's only chance was to go with him leaving Sarah behind. _Damn!_

_---_

"What do you mean I can't trust her?" Chuck's look at the Doc went from one of pleading for help to one of suspicion. "She is my best friend and has saved my life more times that I can count."

"Chuck she is CIA, she doesn't really care about you. You can't trust any of them."

At that moment three things happened all at once. Sarah had heard enough, sitting up quickly to throw the knife she held in her right hand. Dr. Williams saw Sarah's movement and pulled the gun from behind his back, quickly squeezing off a shot. And the Director closed the last few feet separating him from the other three.

Just like every other life or death situation Sarah had ever faced everything around her slowed down. Upon sitting up she felt a sharp pain in her ribs, which she must have injured during her fall. The pain had caused her throw to be slightly off, striking the Doc in the left upper chest area, but not before he got a shot off in her direction. She was staring straight into his eyes thinking that her one chance at protecting Chuck had been lost when something unexpected happened. A large black man dove in front of her and Chuck, the bullet from the Doctor's gun striking him square in the chest.

The Doctor fell to his knees as the pain in his shoulder weakened his legs. He looked down at the bright red stain on his shirt, the knife still sticking out of his chest. His gaze rose back to those in front of him. The Director was laying on the ground struggling for breath, Sarah was reaching for his weapon, and Chuck sat there stunned into paralysis. Before Sarah could get to the Director's gun Dr. Williams raised his gun in her direction once again. A shot rang out, but not from the Dr. Williams' weapon. The shot had come from an unknown shooter standing somewhere behind the Doctor. The shot had been true striking Dr. Williams in the back and piercing his heart. Immediately his hand holding the gun fell to his side followed closely by the rest of his body following forward. As Dr. William fell to the ground Chuck and Sarah could see the figure of the tall man who had killed the doctor.

Sarah visibly relaxed leaning back against the car behind her while placing a hand over her ribs, "It is about time you show up."

"You're welcome Walker," the man stated gruffly as he walked towards them.

"Casey?" Chuck finally found his voice. Although he was truly astonished, all further questions were put off when he heard the Director cough as he struggled to breath.

Sarah's attention was also drawn to her former boss. She lifted Graham's shirt assessing the extent of his injury. When she turned a sad look to Chuck he knew that the Director's wound was serious. "Just a scratch Sir, nothing you haven't had a million times before I bet," Chuck tried to keep his voice cheerful.

As usual the Director ignored Chuck's attempt at a joke, "You saved... the President and all those people...when you could have...saved yourself...Good work...Chuck."

"See, calling me Chuck isn't so hard," Chuck tired to remain light hearted but the small smile he had barely been holding faded as the Director closed his eyes.

With that the other agents who had been standing nearby took over caring for the Director, and Chuck and Sarah were ushered to a nearby CIA SUV where they waited until an ambulance arrived a few minutes later. Casey who had been barking out orders and taking a lead role in place of Director Graham, even though he was NSA not CIA, made his way over to the ambulance where Chuck and Sarah were sitting.

"Casey, where in the world did you come from? I thought you would be out killing terrorists or protecting national security through the use of extremely large weapons," Chuck grinned.

"Blowing up the President counts as terrorism, and saving your ass seems to be a habit that it seems I haven't broken yet."

"When did you get here?" Chuck half smiled still impressed at his friend's return.

"He has been close since the CIA compound," Sarah jumped in causing Casey to nod.

"I had heard about a CIA mission being attacked by some unknown group. I knew the only group dumb enough to do something like that was Fulcrum and the only reason they would do it was for the intersect," Casey poked Chuck in the side of the head causing Chuck to wince. "I also knew that once they made a move that Walker here wouldn't trust the CIA to protect you and she would be making her move. I just came to make sure things didn't get out of hand."

"Does keeping things from getting out of hand include taking out a couple of the guards at the fence line of the compound. I am also guessing you slowed up the agents tracking us from the compound." Sarah grinned as she prodded Casey. Her only response was a trademark grunt.

Chuck looked from Sarah to Casey and back again, "Wait you knew?"

"I had a pretty good idea someone was helping us. Casey was just the best bet. I didn't know for sure until our names were on the VIP list at the convention center."

"You put our names on the list?" Chuck asked Casey incredulously, "but how did you know?"

"I am a real spy. I figure things out...and I was scanning the compound for any comm devices you two may be using when you dropped those oh so subtle hints."

"So you put our usual names on the list so we could get in," Chuck smiled and nodded before furrowing his brow, "but why did you put us down as engaged? We haven't used that cover before."

"Well let's see here. While Walker was your handler you somehow get arguably the best CIA agent in the world to fall for you and completely compromise herself to the point that she quits the CIA because they took you in, despite the fact that it is expressly forbidden to get involved with your asset. I figured, now that Walker here is no longer an agent, therefore free to do as she chooses, that engaged may be an understatement. Hell she could have been barefoot and pregnant by now," Casey laughed.

Chuck and Sarah nervously looked at each other causing Casey's laughter to increase. "Oh your kidding me, you two haven't even slept together yet," Casey continued to laugh out loud as he turned to walk away. "You two can get anything right!"

Sarah looked awkwardly at Chuck who was blushing himself, "wait right here," she said before jogging to catch up to Casey.

"Hey Casey," she called getting Casey to turn and wait for her. "You said that you heard that some group attacked a CIA convoy during a mission?"

"Ya," Casey knew where she was going but didn't offer up any further explanation.

"The CIA doesn't really share their mission plans with the NSA. The only story the NSA would have gotten was the story released on the news, at least for a day or two that is."

Casey looked around and huffed, "Alright, I may have had some feelers out trying to get whatever information I could about Bartowski."

Sarah smiled brightly and hugged Casey before turning to walk back to Chuck.

"Hey Walker," Casey called after her getting a nod in return, "not a word of that to your boyfriend."

"Not a word," Sarah promised as she approached Chuck.

"Not a word about what?" Chuck asked curiously, earning him a smile and a shake of the head for Sarah. "Come on Sarah, what were you two talking about? Sarah...Sarah?"

---


	26. Chapter 26

**Here it is the last chapter of my chuck stories. I appreciate all your comments and for reading with my story. **

**Chapter 26**

2 Days Later: Arlington National Cemetery

The Funeral of CIA Director Graham was well attended. Senators, Generals, and even the President of the United States were there to pay their respects. Sarah, Chuck, and Casey stood a short distance off from the proceedings, quietly watching. The past two days had been just as crazy for them as the days leading up to them. Chuck and Sarah had unofficially been awarded the silver star for valor, unofficially because no one could ever know about it. Beckman had decided that Chuck would not need to go back underground as the result of a combination of factors, among them; Chuck's dedication even when he could have escaped, the lack of safety from fulcrum even in the depths of a CIA underground bunker, and a more than firm recommendation from the President himself. That being said, they were not in the clear yet. Sarah was no longer in the CIA, Chuck was still the intersect, and the new director of the CIA was a power-tripping ass who just happened to be walking their way.

"Here we go," Casey rolled his eyes as he watched the stuffy man approach along with another agent.

"Mr. Bartowski, I would like a word with you, Director Andrews huffed as he walked right up in front of Chuck. The man was about Chuck's height with short perfectly combed hair. He had stepped in close to the tall lanky man so that he was standing nose to nose with Chuck.

Chuck was uncomfortable with the invasion of his personal space but did not back away from the man.

"In reading you file I have seen that you have consistently disobeyed orders and yet somehow seem to always get your way. Just so you know, that is not how I am going to run things. You will do as you are ordered or you will find out very quickly that I will not be as weak as Graham..."

"Director Graham gave his life for what he believed in." Chuck angrily interrupted Andrews. "He once told me that we all have to make sacrifices and he made the biggest one you can. I may not have always liked the guy or how he treated me, but I will not stand her and listen to you or anyone else belittle what he has done, especially when we are here at his funeral because he gave his life to protect me and Sarah." Chuck had subconsciously leaned forward and balled his hands into fists, his eyes wide with anger.

Casey gave a small smile, impressed with Chuck standing his ground. Sarah was a little less enthused with the situation. Although she was proud of Chuck, she too was angered by the new Director's lack of tact. And seeing that neither Chuck nor the Director was going to back down, Sarah placed her hand on Chuck's shoulder causing him to take a small step back.

Chuck took a deep breath and relaxed his hands. "It doesn't matter anyway," Chuck began to speak again with clear confidence. "I am no longer the property of the CIA so it doesn't matter what you say."

"What are you talking about? As the human intersect you absolutely belong to both the CIA and the NSA. Did Beckman tell you you were free to go? Because I assure you she doesn't have that authority to speak on behalf of the CIA." Andrews huffed.

"Beckman knows, but the order came from much higher," Chuck said as he threw a small wave to President Obama who returned the wave with a smile. "You see the President is awfully grateful when you save his life."

The fury that passed over Andrews' face was incredible. His face had instantly turned the deepest shade of red Chuck had ever seen. If this were a cartoon smoke would have poured from the man's ears. He was speechless, standing there perfectly still, mulling over what had just been said. Satisfied with himself Chuck turned and started to walk away from the Director followed by Casey and Sarah. Andrews finally broke his silence when the trio had taken a few steps away.

"Walker!" he screamed as his temper boiled over, causing the tall blond to turn and look at him. He quickly walked towards her raising his hand in a pointing motion. This is all your fault! If you were half the Agent...OOWWW!"

The Director had gone from pointing at Sarah as he accused her to poking her just below her collarbone. That single poke was one too many, as Sarah had grabbed his finger and twisted so quickly that he was now kneeling on the ground in front of her whimpering in pain as she held tightly to his finger. The agent that had been standing next to the Director moved to intervene, but his progress was cut short as Casey stepped in front of him and merely shook his head side to side. The agent understood the message that laid beneath that menacing glare, and decided to leave the Director on his own for this one.

Sarah leaned down and gave the Director a cold stare. "Director Andrews, as you know, I am no longer an employee of the CIA. That being the case touching me is not only assault, but also a _VERY BAD IDEA_." The venom in Sarah's voice left no question as to what would happen if the Director were to forget her words. Releasing the man's finger, she and Casey walked away without another word.

---

2 weeks Later: Ellie and Devon's apartment

Sarah, Chuck, Ellie, and Devon were sitting around the dinner table. The sounds of laughter filled the room, although on closer inspection most of the laughter was coming from Ellie and Devon with Sarah contributing here and there. Chuck was actually staring at his plate of lasagna with the most embarrassed expression imaginable on his face.

"All I am saying is that it is really nice to finally get to spend some time with you two. You have been home almost two whole weeks and this is the first time I have seen you and Sarah outside of that new apartment of yours for more than five minutes," Ellie giggled.

"I figured you would have had to come up for air a little sooner than this Chuck," Devon contributed. "I gotta admit, pretty impressive Chuckster."

"You have no idea," Sarah said quietly. Unfortunately it was not quiet enough to get past the other couple at the table. Chuck turned a betrayed look at her as the cat calls and whooping grew even louder.

Chuck's cheeks could not grow any redder. "Why is this not bothering you?" he asked Sarah who just smiled and shrugged. Once he realized that Sarah was not going to be of any help what so ever, Chuck changed his tactics. "Ellie! So the wedding is only three weeks away. Are you sure that everything is ready."

"Chuck that is pretty low, trying to get me freaked out just to change the subject," Ellie wagged her finger in Chuck's face. "Fortunately for me, not so much for you, everything with the wedding is all set. Nice try though little brother."

Chuck dropped his head into his hands as his last ray of hope faded. Ellie finally took some sympathy on him turning her attention to Sarah instead. "I guess I should really be talking to you about this. I mean it takes two to horizontal tango and I haven't seen a smile as big as yours in quiet some time."

Sarah had been enjoying the embarrassing barrage of questions thrown at Chuck, but her eyes went wide when Ellie's attention was fully directed at her. As fate would have it both Sarah and Chuck were saved by a knock on Ellie's front door.

"I'll get it," both Chuck and Sarah called as they nearly raced to the door. Of course, this only made Ellie and Devon laugh even harder.

Sarah reached the door first, the elbow she placed in Chuck's side on the way there may have helped. When the door was swung open both were surprised by who was on the other side.

"Casey!" Sarah smiled.

"Hey buddy I didn't think we would see you at the wedding in another couple weeks ," Chuck said excitedly.

For just a second you could see happiness in Casey's eyes as he looked at his former "teammates", but that was quickly hidden behind his normal scowl as he nodded his head towards the fountain in the courtyard, "We have to talk."

Immediately Chuck's pleasure in seeing his friend had been replaced with dread. He had thought he was past the spy thing, and on to his new life with Sarah. Sarah also seemed apprehensive, but followed Casey out to the fountain. "Casey you know that Ellie and Devon know about...everything. What is with the secrecy?" Sarah asked she turned and took Chuck's hand as he caught up to her and Casey.

"The CIA and the NSA have requested your help with a case." Chuck held his breath as Casey continued, "I knew that if I had mentioned that in front of Ellie she would more than likely get very violent."

"Besides, we don't have time to answer all of the questions she would have had if we would have come inside," came another voice from the shadows. Chuck and Sarah turned to see Bryce step out from behind a shrub to join the conversation.

"Bryce what are you doing here?" Chuck asked as he continued to grow even more uneasy.

Casey answered for him, "Well since Walker quit, the CIA has stuck me with pretty boy here. And let me just say thanks a bunch for that one Walker," sarcasm dripping from his thank you.

Bryce rolled his eyes as he stepped up to Chuck and held out a file, "Fulcrum is trying to join some international terrorist out of desperation. It seems like all the agents you three have been taking down have finally put a dent in their organization." Casey got a proud expression on his face as he listened to Bryce compliment team Chuck. "However, if they are able to link up with some of these groups they will be more deadly than ever."

Chuck looked down at the file but did not take it. Sarah placed her hand on his forearm, "Chuck you don't have to do this."

"Chuck we are talking about the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people," Bryce tried again.

"Chuck I was ordered to come and ask for your assistance. However, I could always shoot Bryce and tell Washington we were car jacked on the way in an oh so unfortunate tragedy," Casey growled.

Chuck was at a complete loss. He had never been happier, but he had also never been able to turn his back on those who needed him.

"Why don't you just take a look at the file? See what the intersect tells you and then make your decision," Bryce made his final plea.

Chuck let out a sigh and reached for the file. Sarah's hand fell heavily from his arm. Looking down at the file Chuck was shocked, "Italy?"

"I said it was an international," Bryce grinned.

Chuck turned his gaze to meet Sarah's for a few seconds, letting his eye search hers for any sign of what she thought he should do. He could tell from he stare that she was allowing him to decide, and that she would support him no matter what his decision would be.

As Chuck's shoulders sagged in a nearly defeated way he flipped the file open and looked at the contents inside. His eyes glazed over, while the others watched on. Image after image flashed through his mind. The flash ended leaving Chuck a little light-headed and wearing the near panicked expression that Casey and Sarah new so well.

Chuck turned a fearful look at Sarah before speaking in slightly more than a whisper, "Uh oh."

A/N: Thanks again. I am leaving it here. You can have fun with where it could go from here. There is a small chance I am going to finish the Morgan/Ellie story line in a one shot called Chuck vs the day Morgan finds out, but I am not sure of that. Thanks again.


End file.
